(Yicai) Dec. 7 -- Shares in Huaxia Eye Hospital Group plunged as much as 17 percent today after China’s second biggest private ophthalmology hospital chain operator said that its chairman has been taken into custody by the government’s anti-graft body. 

Huaxia Eye Hospital’s share price [SHE:301267] plunged 11.8 percent to close at CNY34.25 (USD4.80). Earlier in the day it sank to CNY32, the lowest since the firm went public on Nov. 7 last year.   

Su Qingcan has been detained for personal reasons by the Shanghai branch of the National Supervisory Commission, which is an anti-corruption organ that probes government officials, the Xiamen-based company said yesterday. Huaxia Eye Hospital has not been asked to co-operate with the investigation and the firm’s operations are continuing as normal. 

Su and those acting in concert with him owned 63 percent of Huaxia Eye Hospital, which runs 57 eye hospitals and 52 optometric centers across the country, as of Sept. 30. It is second in size only to Aier Eye Hospital Group among private ophthalmology hospital operators in the country. 

The company added more than 20 eye hospitals this year, and expects to continue to expand at this rate or faster for the next few years, it told investors in October.

Huaxia Eye Hospital’s net profit jumped 40 percent in the first three quarters from a year earlier to CNY557 million (USD78 million), while revenue surged 23 percent to CNY3.1 billion (USD433.8 million), according to its most recent financial report.  

Editors: Dou Shicong,  Kim Taylor