SHANGHAI, Aug. 21 (AP) --The chairman of Shanghai Electric Group and two of its directors have resigned "for personal reasons" amid an investigation into alleged misuse of public funds, the company said Monday.

Wang Chengming, 58, left the company as of Friday, Shanghai Electric said in an announcement posted on the Web site of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

It said Han Guozhang and Zhang Rongkun, both executive directors, had also resigned "for personal reasons."

The announcement came amid reports that central Communist Party investigators had settled in for an extensive probe into allegations of financial abuses linked to one of Shanghai Electric's pension funds.

The company has sought to distance itself from the scandal, which also resulted in the dismissal of the head of the city's Labor and Social Security Bureau for alleged bribe taking.