Journalist, securities regulatory official held for stock market violation

Chinese authorities have held several people, including a journalist, an official of China's securities watchdog and four senior executives of China's major securities dealer for stock market violations.

Wang Xiaolu, journalist of Caijing Magazine, has been placed under "criminal compulsory measures" for suspected violations of colluding with others and fabricating and spreading fake information on securities and futures market, Xinhua reported on Sunday.

Wang confessed that he wrote fake report on Chinese stock market based on hearsay and his own subjective guesses without conducting due verifications.

He admitted that the false information "caused panics and disorder at stock market, seriously undermined the market confidence, and inflicted huge losses on the country and investors".

Also put under "criminal compulsory measures" were Liu Shufan, an official with China Securities Regulatory Commission. He is held over suspicions of insider dealings, taking bribes and forging official seals.

According to Liu's confession during the investigation, he took advantage of his position to secure an approval from the securities authorities for a public company and help the growth of the company's shares.

In return, the head of the company offered bribes worth several million yuan to him.

Also, Liu used insider information from the above-mentioned company and another company and obtained millions of yuan of illegal gains, according to his confession.

Liu confessed that he forged official seals to fake a court ruling on divorce and taxation certificates for his mistress.

Xu Gang, Liu Wei, Fang Qingli and Chen Rongjie, senior executives of the Citic Securities, China's leading securities dealer, have been put under "criminal compulsory measures" for suspected insider trading. They have also confessed to their violations.

"Compulsory measures" may include arrest, detention, issuing a warrant to compel a suspect to appear, bail pending trial, or residential surveillance.