Second China banker probed for graft

The head of one of China's biggest banks is under investigation for corruption, a media report said, the second graft case involving bankers to emerge in a month. Authorities have detained Tao Liming, head of the Postal Savings Bank of China, for granting loans in violation of rules, the influential business magazine Caixin said Monday, giving no further details. The bank's state parent said Tao and finance department chief Chen Hongping were assisting in an investigation involving their personal "economic problems" -- typically a reference to corruption. "The bank's business, operations and financial affairs have not been affected," China Post Group said in a statement issued Monday. The Beijing-headquartered bank could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. The Postal Savings Bank -- the country's seventh largest by assets -- emerged through China's massive post office network and was formally set up in 2007. The bank, which is undergoing restructuring ahead of a planned stock listing, has more than 37,000 business outlets. In another recent case, the Agricultural Bank of China said late last month that vice president Yang Kun was assisting in an investigation, amid media reports the probe involved gambling debts. Yang allegedly brokered large loans to a Beijing property company in violation of rules, state media has reported. In 2010, the courts handed a suspended death sentence to a former vice president of the China Development Bank for taking bribes in return for providing loans to businesses. Chinese business and political circles are riddled with corruption -- a situation that has repeatedly been singled out by top leaders as the biggest danger to face the ruling Communist Party.