What’s new: Liu Zhiquan, former head of the environmental impact assessment department within the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), has been expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office after an investigation by the party’s top graft watchdog.
Liu was found to have illegally accepted large amounts of money while working within the environmental protection industry, helping others with project declaration and verification, according to a Friday statement published by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).
He used his influence to get benefits for his spouse and violated confidentiality provisions by recording and disseminating confidential information, the statement said. Liu’s case has been handed over to prosecutors, according to the CCDI.
The background: The announcement comes eight months after Liu was placed under a graft probe in November, while he was serving as director of MEE’s Department of Environmental Impact Assessment and Emission Management.
The department’s responsibilities include administering permits over polluters’ initial market access, formulating policies for environmental impact assessments and the issuance pollution emission permits for construction projects, and executing requirements for ecological conservation redline, according to its website.
During Liu’s tenure as head from 2018 to 2023, the department was undergoing major reform regarding environmental impact assessment (EIA). In March, the MEE vowed to crack down on the falsification of EIA reports, naming several scandals including a 2021 case where one EIA engineer submitted over 1,600 reports in four months.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
