Executive from China's top liquor maker under investigation

Moutai liquor in a supermarket, Aug 30, 2014. [Photo/IC]

GUIYANG - The deputy general manager of China Kweichow Moutai Winery (Group) Co Ltd is under investigation, the local discipline watchdog said on its website on Wednesday.

According to Southwest China's Guizhou province's discipline watchdog, Fang Guoxing, the deputy general manager and board director of Kweichow Moutai Winery, is being probed for a "suspected serious violation of discipline".

Fang has been at Kweichow Moutai Winery since January 2013 and was once the secretary of the Communist Party of China's Renhuai City Committee.

Moutai has been considered the country's top liquor brand and a status symbol for decades.

The intense counter-corruption drive in China, which is targeting both high-ranking "tigers" and low-level "flies", has spread across many fields and industries.

It wasn't clear whether the allegations stemmed from Fang's role at Moutai, or from his 2006-2013 term as Renhuai party boss, during which the city was rocked by unrest tied to building demolitions and land disputes.