Sealand officials in the dock for 'bribery'

Two senior executives of Sealand Securities Co Ltd, a leading securities firm in China, have been detained and investigated by authorities, triggering talk of a possibly deepened anti-corruption probe into the country's bond market.

Qi Guoqi, the company's president, has been in criminal detention by the authorities, and Vice-President Chen Liejiang was summoned by the police to assist in the investigation, the company said in a statement.

The charges remain unknown, but analysts said they may be connected to the government's ongoing probe into major brokerages for possible bribery with a focus on bond underwriting. Chen was in charge of the company's fixed-income business before the investigation.