(Yicai Global) July 25 -- Yingda Taihe Property Insurance Co., which made headlines earlier this year for wiretapping the venue it offered inspectors from the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, has recently been punished by the watchdog. The company was fined USD133,300 (CNY900,000) and the relevant person-in-charge has been dismissed.

The CIRC's Shandong bureau recently announced its penalty decision, revealing two charges against the Weifang branch. The branch provided false financial business information and made improper reimbursements, and it impeded supervision and inspection. The penalty decision confirmed that the Yingda Taihe's Weifang branch eavesdropped inspectors' conversations on January 5 and 6.

The regulator's Shangdong bureau carried out inspections of the operations of Yingda Taihe in December last year and January this year. During an on-site review, the inspection team found two devices set up to record their conversations.

Lu Wentao, deputy general manager of the firm's Weifang branch, and other staff bugged the room the inspectors were in by taping a voice recorder and a new iPhone 6S to the underside of a chair.

Yingda Taihe is a property insurance company registered in Beijing. It was allowed to open on October 28, 2008. State Grid Yingda International Holding Group Co., China Power Finance Co., State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co., State Grid Hubei Provincial Electric Power Co., State Grid Liaoning Provincial Electric Power Co. and State Grid Shanxi Provincial Electric Power Co., have stakes of 20 percent, 7.43 percent, 5 percent, 5 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent, respectively, in Yingda Taihe.