SHIJIAZHUANG, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Fang Hongjin, a former anchorman for China Central Television (CCTV), had been detained over contract fraud in north China's Hebei Province, local police confirmed Sunday evening.

    Fang, a famous TV anchor in China, had been released on bail after returning the contractual income of one million yuan (146,000 U.S. dollars), according to an unnamed officer with the public security bureau of Xingtai City.

    Initial investigation showed that Fang volunteered to provide TV advertisement service for an instant noodle company in Xingtai in 2006. The advertisement company Fang invested in later signed a one-million yuan contract with the noodle company but failed to fulfill it.

    Fang, 48, began to work with CCTV in 1992. He co-founded the prime time news review program "jiao dian fang tan", or Focus, and was co-anchor of the program. He joined Shanghai-based Dragon TV in 2003 but left three years later.