A bigger telecom scam brewing in China!

Chinese authorities are in hot trail of an even bigger telecom scam than the one that hit India, involving government officials and some of the country's top telecom firms.

Anti-corruption authorities have detained Ma Li, deputy general manager of China Mobile's data services division, who in turn has provided information on more than 60 other persons involved in corruption cases, the Xinhua newspaper reported, citing official sources.

The report said anti-corruption authorities have started an industry-wide investigation and that about 60 government and telecom officials are already under investigation.

Top telecom firms, including China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom are under probe, it added.

Preliminary investigations have shown that Ma was involved in illegal transactions worth over 110 million yuan (around Rs76,330 crore or $17 million) and that the overall illegal dealings could top 350 million yuan (Rs1,57,150 crore or $54 million), the report quoted officials as saying.

Ma's arrest follows investigations into the role played by Ye Bing, chief executive officer of ASPire Holdings, a corporation held by China Mobile, who had been under investigation since mid-May.
 
ASPire is believed to have been the agent between China Mobile and other data service providers. Authorities are also investigating service providers closely connected to the three companies, reports said.

The allegations of corruption are not recent. Zhang Chunjiang, the vice chairman of China Mobile was removed from his post in December 2009 on allegations of corruption.
 
Zhang Chunjiang, has later been indicted by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party for taking bribes.
 
China Mobile, the world's largest wireless service provider by market value with a subscriber base of over 580 million, is ranked as the second most profitable company in China and the fourth largest company in revenues in 2010.