Yuan Renguo, the former chairman of Kweichow Moutai, was relieved from his post as a standing committee member of Guizhou Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to an official statement released on Monday.
The statement didn’t elaborate the reason for his dismissal. Yuan, born in 1956, left his position as the chairman of the Chinese liquor producer in May 2018 after serving for 17 years. He was later elected a standing committee member of the Guizhou provincial CPPCC.
Rumors spread after Yuan left Moutai, suggesting that he was involved in graft cases and has been under investigation, caijing.com reported.
The provincial government has required authorities to conduct self-inspections on officials who participated in Kweichow Moutai operations in August of 2018, the report said.
The self-inspection is still ongoing and there are cases of officials who have been caught accepting Moutai as gift. Moutai sold as much as 2,000 yuan a bottle in 2018.
A spokesperson from Kweichow Moutai declined to comment.
Yuan’s leadership has contributed to the present success of Moutai, it said. When he took over the company in 2000, Moutai only reported 1.1 billion yuan in revenue, compared with revenue of 73.6 billion yuan in 2018.