What’s new: Li Chunsheng, former police chief and ex-vice governor of South China’s Guangdong province, has been removed from public office and expelled from the Communist Party for serious violations of duty and alleged bribery, the country’s top graft buster said.
Li’s misconduct includes trading influence for sex, illegally interfering in judicial and law enforcement cases and meddling in capital market activities, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement published Wednesday.
The 62-year-old also obtained a “large amount” of money and valuables by abusing his positions to facilitate contracting, business operations and project advancement for others, the statement said.
The background: Amid a sweeping crackdown on corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary, the CCDI announced in December that Li had been placed under investigation for suspected graft, making him the first high-ranking official in the public security system to fall from grace since the 20th party congress in October.
A native of Central China’s Henan, Li worked in his home province for more than two decades before moving to Beijing in 2006 to head a bureau in charge of personnel training at the Ministry of Public Security. In 2013, he moved to Guangdong to serve as the province’s vice governor and director of the provincial public security department until 2021, when he became deputy head of the provincial legislature.
During his tenure at the Ministry of Public Security, Li crossed paths with fallen former Vice Public Security Minister Sun Lijun and members of his “political clique” Gong Daoan, Shanghai’s former police chief, and Liu Yanping, an ex-senior party discipline inspector at the Ministry of State Security. The trio were sentenced to life in prison or got suspended death penalties for corruption.
Contact reporter Wang Xintong (xintongwang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
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