A senior Communist Party official in China's eastern province of Zhejiang, where Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is based, is being investigated for suspected serious violations of the party's disciplinary rules and laws, local media reported Tuesday.
There is speculation that Zhou Jiangyong, a top ruling party official of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang, has close relations with the country's IT giant, sparking concern that Alibaba may have been involved in financial irregularities.
Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily newspaper has said Zhou's family acquired private stocks worth 500 million yuan ($77.2 million) of Ant Group, a financial affiliate of Alibaba, before its planned listing for Hong Kong and Shanghai in November last year.
Ant Group has rejected such a report, saying in a statement that there is no fact that anyone has received its private stocks before its planned listings, which were postponed.
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