What’s new: A former vice president of China’s Supreme People’s Court is under investigation on suspicion of serious violation of law and discipline, according to China’s top anti-graft watchdog, the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Shen Deyong was taken away by authorities Thursday, following two of his former secretaries who were taken away in the past two weeks, several people close to the matter told Caixin.
Shen, a standing committee member of the country’s top political consultative body, earlier this month attended the “Two Sessions,” the annual gatherings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress. At the sessions he proposed to speed up legislations on civil and commercial affairs in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Shen was a vice president of China’s highest court for 10 years between 2008 and 2018. He often comments on popular social issues and is influential in the law community.
The arrest of Xin Zhihong, formerly Shen’s secretary who left the Supreme Court for a law firm in Beijing, might be related to the Shen investigation, according to people close to the matter. Xin’s law firm was involved in New China Life Insurance Co. Ltd.’s controversial equity ownership dispute.
The background: China’s anti-corruption authorities have increased their scrutiny of the country’s law enforcement and justice systems. The nationwide campaign across all arms of government was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2012, aiming to crack down on corrupt “tigers and flies” in the administration.
Shen is the third senior judiciary official to fall since 2015. Xi Xiaoming, former vice president of the Supreme People’s Court, was abruptly removed from office and investigated for corruption in 2015. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 for taking bribes worth 114 million yuan ($18 million).
Last July, Meng Xiang, director of the Supreme People’s Court enforcement bureau, came under investigation by the country’s top anti-corruption authorities.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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