By staff reporter Wang Heyan

Guo Jingyi, an official at the department of Treaty and Law of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), were detained by the Communist Party’s disciplinary arm in mid August on alleged bribery. Two lawyers were also involved in the case.

Sources told Caijing that Guo, 44, has been under “double regulation” – informal detention by CPC on party officials – since August 13. Some said Guo is suspected of taking bribery from a foreign investment project. Zhang Yuzhu, director a Beijing legal firm called Seafront, is also involved.

Zhang and Guo were college classmates and graduated from the Law School of Beijing University in 1986. Guo entered MOFCOM and became an expert on international law.

Another lawyer, Liu Yang, is also tangled in the case. Liu worked at MOFCOM between 1995 and 2004, then left to become a senior advisor of Seafront.