GREENTOWN China Holdings Ltd yesterday denied a rumor that its chairman has been arrested for bribing a former government official in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, who was given a life sentence in December after being found guilty of bribery.

A company spokeswoman in Greentown's Hong Kong office, who preferred not to be named, told Shanghai Daily yesterday by phone that neither Song Weiping, chairman of Greentown, nor the Hong Kong-listed company, is currently under any investigation for involvement in the bribery case.

"The case closed long time ago and Greentown is not involved with it any more," she said.

There was speculation on Sina's microblogging site yesterday that Song has been arrested.

Song admitted earlier that his company had sold a 203-square-meter house in Hangzhou to Zhang Jiameng, a former party secretary of Zhoushan and deputy chairman of the People's Congress of Zhejiang Province, in 2003 for 5,100 yuan (US$807) per square meter. The price was actually worth more than 10,000 yuan a square meter at that time.

The bribe of more than 1.17 million yuan was given to Zhang for his "support and help" to Greentown's business expansion into Zhoushan, according to earlier media reports.

Hangzhou-headquartered Greentown, a major Chinese real estate developer specializing in luxury homes, said the deal was not made in exchange for any interest of the company and it has not been prosecuted for any wrongdoing.

The developer began to tap the property market in Zhoushan in the first half of 2002 when Zhang was then mayor of the city. Zhang had backed Greenland's projects in both land use approvals as well as land price settlement.

In December Zhang was given a life term for bribery.