Former deputy director of the Shanghai housing, land and resources administrative bureau, 60-year-old Yin Guoyuan, is under investigation, an unnamed official with the Shanghai municipal government confirmed Thursday.

Yin had allegedly failed to account satisfactorily for his immense wealth, according to local sources.

His wife is also being questioned.

Yin served in the land and resources administrative bureau from January 1995 before leaving to become chairman of the Shanghai Land Institute in October 2005.

During his ten years' tenure, he was in charge of land-use approvals.

The decade saw a boom in the leasing of land in Shanghai, especially after 2000. The area of leased land during Yin's final five years was four times greater than in the first five years, according to statistics released on the website of the Shanghai statistics bureau.

"Almost all land transfer contracts required Yin's signature," said a former worker at the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resources Administrative Bureau.

Yin always insisted that the "price of land would not drop". A source close to Yin said that he had several apartments himself.

In Nov. 2006, Yin's subordinate, Zhu Wenjin, director of the bureau's land utilisation management department, was put under investigation for "abuse of office by allowing others to profit in exchange for cash and expensive gifts".

Last month, the CPC discipline inspection commission announced that nine members of the Party involved in the Shanghai pension fund case, , including Zhu, were being investigated for serious violations of Party disciplines.

A source close to Yin said he was under great stress because of the "complicated land management work" and could not sleep well.

Source: Xinhua