Ling Baoheng, chief of Shanghai's State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, and Wu Hongmei, a vice director for the commission, were "assisting in the investigation," said an official in the Shanghai city government, who gave her surname as Zhang.

She would not comment further.

The two are among dozens of officials and businessmen reportedly implicated in a scandal over alleged illicit investments of city pension and housing funds. The commission oversees several major city projects targeted in the probe, including Shanghai's Formula One auto racing track.

The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post, citing unnamed government officials, said police took Ling from his home late Sunday.

As head of the city's assets commission, Ling was involved in the restructuring of several major state-owned corporations, including equipment maker Shanghai Electric Group, whose chairman and other senior officials are also under investigation.

Shanghai's Communist Party secretary, Chen Liangyu, was dismissed and also expelled from the party's powerful Politburo last month in connection with the scandal over alleged misuse of more than 3 billion yuan ($380 million) in pension funds.

The government has announced only one arrest so far, that of tycoon Zhang Rongkun, whose Fuxi Investment company was alleged to have used pension funds for investments in toll roads and other projects.

The Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao, citing unnamed city officials, said about 50 people have been taken in for questioning by Communist Party corruption investigators so far.