A university vice president in Zhejiang Province has been arrested and is under investigation by local prosecutors on suspicion of embezzling State-owned assets. 

Chu Jian, 50, who was appointed vice president of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou in 2005, was responsible for human resources, logistics and enterprises affiliated to the university. He served as a deputy at the 10th National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, China Youth Daily reported Wednesday.

He is also a co-founder and former CEO of Supcon Group, a leading provider of automation and information-based technology products.  

Prosecutors said that Chu was arrested a month ago for  alleged economic crimes. The prosecutor's office said the case is still under investigation and it cannot reveal further details. 

An insider from Zhejiang University told the newspaper that Chu's arrest is related to Supcon Group, a company which is a subsidiary of the former Zhejiang University-owned company, Zhejiang Highne Science and Technology Company. Chu was company founder.

After Zhejiang Highne was listed on the stock market in 1999, Supcon was one of three core sectors spun off. It has been alleged Chu transferred the better-performing Supcon assets to Highne, leaving bad assets behind, which is illegal. 

"The separation of Zhejiang Highne had an obviously adverse purpose," Zhao Wanyi, a professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, told the Global Times Wednesday.

"If the same assets are relisted on the open market, that means it's been sold twice, which involves fraud," Zhao said.

Shang Qizhuang, head of Zhejiang branch of China Business Times, told the Global Times on Wednesday that local authorities said that Chu was investigated by the prosecutors in September together with several top officials of the group.

Zhuang Biao, head of the publicity department of Zhejiang University Party committee, said it was "inconvenient" to be interviewed, and calls to Supcon and local prosecutors went unanswered. 

Chu is one of several top university officials to be investigated recently. On December 18, the Sichuan disciplinary watchdog said An Xiaoyu, vice president of Sichuan University, was under investigation due to severely violating disciplinary regulations. 

Cai Rongsheng, head of the admissions office at the Renmin University of China, was accused of embezzling and bribing more than 100 million yuan ($16.47 million) and was arrested last month.

The exposure of these scandals is part of the anti-corruption fight launched by the central government, which has sent investigators out into the country since May.

Corruption problems have long been rife in universities  as there is a lack of supervision over top officials, said Chu Zhaohui, a research fellow with the Beijing-based National Institute of Education Sciences. "Under the pressure of higher officials, ordinary teachers are afraid of reporting problems with their bosses."

"These officials' upper authorities should also bear responsibilities. They can't just receive all the achievements in their names," Wang Xuming, a former spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, wrote on his Sina Weibo Wednesday.