A high ranking official of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) had been taken away by the central discipline agencies for investigation, according to reports on website www.caijing.com.cn on Wednesday.

Xu Mangang, director of the Supervision and Inspection Department of the SAFE, began to "take a leave" about two weeks ago, but had not returned to office, according to the website.

When contacted by Xinhua on Thursday, the information office of SAFE said "It did not know anything about the case at all."

Xu, born in 1966, has served as an arbitrator of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission since 1996.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2008)