Claims that the chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) broke the rules when he awarded a contract are being investigated by an independent body.

SEC Chairman Andrew Sheng has been accused of violating administrative rules when he awarded a HK$3.46m (�290,000; $444,000) information technology contract to a former colleague, Peter Hsueh.

The accusations were made in anonymous letters which the SFC received earlier this summer, according to spokesman Ernest Lau.

In August, the watchdog's internal audit committee responded by appointing PricewaterhouseCoopers to carry out an independent investigation.