Wang Shengchang, former director of the law department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, has been arrested for alleged fraudulent activities, according to official sources.

Judicial department officials have declined to give details about Wang's case, noting that it is being investigated.

Wang, also the former secretary-general of the arbitration committee of the CCPIT, had participated in several hundred cases, including a dispute between international soft drink giant Pepsi Cola and its local partner in Sichuan Province, southwest China.

The Pepsi dispute, known as the "first case in China's post-WTO era," had drawn wide attention, domestically and internationally, in which Wang played a remarkable role in the case. And he was criticized by some Chinese for profiting from the case.

Wang could have earned over 1.2 million yuan (US$150,000) as one of the three arbitrators at an international business arbitration in Stockholm, said Hu Fengxian, president of Sichuan Pepsi. Wang was said to have turned down an appeal to the CCPIT by Hu's company after the Stockholm arbitration was made.

The Sichuan company has appealed to China's Supreme People's Court, in an attempt to stop the Stockholm arbitration from taking effect in the country.

The Pepsi case is typical of disputes involving businesses who have tried to expand in the Chinese market.