Anti-graft watchdog involved in Ant probe

Bloomberg and Reuters

China's top anti-graft watchdog was among the agencies involved in a recent inquiry into links between Jack Ma's Ant Group and state-owned Chinese companies, sources said, escalating the risks for the country's most recognizable tech tycoon and his internet empire.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection was seeking to understand the influence of Ma's fintech empire and the extent of its transactions with state banks and enterprises, they said.

The CCDI, which oversees corruption probes involving senior members of the Communist Party, was involved in the queries sent to state firms in February about their exposure as part of its investigation of former Hangzhou party chief Zhou Jiangyong, one of the people said. Both Ant and Alibaba (9988) are headquartered in Hangzhou.

Shares of Alibaba fell 3 percent yesterday.

Meanwhile, Tencent (0700) said it will shut down a service that allowed Chinese gamers to access overseas platforms to play unapproved foreign games, in a sign of tightening compliance as Chinese regulators more closely scrutinize the industry. The gaming giant said it will on May 31 update its games speed booster mobile and desktop apps to new versions that would only support games operating in China.

Also, China's securities regulator ordered Legend Holdings (3396) to rectify information disclosure issues - the company released its 2020 annual report in Hong Kong earlier than it did in mainland China.