Senior Chinese football official and chairman of the Chinese Super League Liu Jun has been taken away by authorities for investigation, the state-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported on Tuesday.
Liu was previously chairman of now-defunct Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning and was appointed chief executive of Italian Serie A side Inter Milan in 2016, soon after the club was purchased by the Suning Holdings Group.
His arrest comes six months after CFA chairman Chen Xuyuan was placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
The probe of Chen, who was also the deputy party secretary for the football body, came after an anti-corruption investigation of Chinese football.
In January, two former CFA officials were investigated for suspected “severe violations of the law,” according to statements posted by the Chinese sports regulator.
Two more leading Chinese football officials were investigated for suspected serious violations of the law in March.
Wang Xiaoping, director of the CFA’s disciplinary committee, is suspected of “severe law violations” and Huang Song, head of the competition department, is being probed for “severe law and rule violations”, the General Administration of Sport said.
An investigation was also launched into former China head coach Li Tie for suspected severe violation of laws.
Li has been charged with corruption offences, including bribery, according to a Supreme People’s Procuratorate statement as reported earlier this month by the South China Morning Post.
The news on Liu comes a day after investors told defending Chinese Super League champions Wuhan Three Towns they were prepared to give the club away for nothing after announcing they were withdrawing funding at the end of the month.
