Chinese Communist Party chief investigated for corruption

In another high-profile corruption investigation in China, the Communist Party chief of Guangzhou in the southern province of Guangdong is being investigated on graft charges.

The central commission for discipline inspection said on its website that Wan Qingliang (50), once the youngest mayor of Guangzhou and considered a rising star in the Communist Party, was suspected of “severely violating party discipline and the law”, which is the standard euphemism for corruption.

The position of party chief in a powerful first-tier provincial capital like Guangzhou is usually a step into the national political elite. Both of his predecessors, Huang Huahua and Zhu Xiaodan, were named Guangdong provincial governor after their time running the party in Guangzhou.

A graft investigation rarely finds someone innocent of corruption charges.

Xinhau ran a terse biography of Mr Wan, saying he was a native of Wuhua county in the booming southern province of Guangdong.

“He had successively served as the party chief of Jiaoling county, Jieyang city and vice-governor of Guangdong province before he became Guangzhou’s party chief in December 2011,” it said.

The political reasons why Mr Wan is being investigated are murky. There may be factional reasons why he is under pressure or it may relate to other issues, but there is no public information available as to why.

Speculation

There has been speculation that Guangdong is under the spotlight because of the large number of “naked officials” – cadres who send their wives and children to live overseas, while preparing for their own eventual departure.

As part of the crackdown on corruption, more than 800 officials across Guangdong province, whose spouses and children have emigrated overseas, have been demoted or had “position adjustments”.

The commission has also expelled Xu Jie, who was deputy head of the state bureau for letters and visits, which is in charge of a controversial petitioning system. He was accused of taking bribes, adultery and other violations.

Petitioning is a system dating from the imperial era, whereby Chinese people who felt they were being abused by the system turned to the emperor for help. They would travel to the capital to petition for his assistance.

The tradition has continued in the Communist era, but in the past few years it has become a dangerous practice. Any petitioners seen near Tiananmen Square, for example, are rounded up and often jailed.

The campaign against corruption has been under way since Chinese president Xi Jinping came to power two years ago, pledging to root out graft in China, and he has taken some significant scalps.

The biggest is Bo Xilai, the former party boss in Dalian and Chongqing who was purged last year and is serving a life sentence for corruption and abuse of power, while his wife is in jail for murder.

The biggest target since Bo is former oil boss and security czar Zhou Yongkang, who was a member of the party’s all-powerful politburo standing committee until 2012. If Mr Zhou is formally charged he will be the highest-profile victim yet of the crackdown on corruption.