MCLC: Sichuan official removed for corruption

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Sichuan official removed for corruption
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Source: NYT (12/13/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/world/asia/top-sichuan-official-removed-i
n-corruption-inquiry.html

Top Sichuan Official Removed in Corruption Inquiry
By ANDREW JACOBS

BEIJING — A high-ranking Communist Party leader who was the second most
powerful official in China’s southwest Sichuan Province was removed from
his posts on Thursday amid corruption allegations that may hint of a wider
crackdown on graft.

The case of Li Chuncheng, 56, who last month was named an alternate member
of the party’s Central Committee, is the most significant of the flurry of
vice-and-sex scandals that have claimed a half dozen officials in recent
weeks. Most of those, however, were first exposed on the Internet by
journalists or anonymous citizens who forced the authorities to act.

The investigation of Li was initiated by the party’s main anticorruption
body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which summoned him
for questioning on Dec. 2.

China’s new leaders have vowed to tackle the bribery, embezzlement and
influence-peddling that has shaken public confidence in the ruling
Communist Party. Although the probe into Mr. Li likely began some time
ago, analysts say the timing of his downfall could be designed to
telegraph a message about the new leadership’s commitment to rooting out
official corruption.

The brief announcement by the state-run Xinhua news agency said only that
Mr. Li was suspected of “grave violations of discipline.” Earlier media
reports have made vague references to a career replete with malfeasance.
One report suggested Mr. Li had engaged in buying and selling official
posts as well as bribe-taking related to real-estate deals in Chengdu, the
provincial capital where he served as mayor before his promotion to
provincial deputy party chief.

Mr. Li’s dismissal came less than a month after the one-in-a-decade party
congress that anointed Xi Jinping as general secretary. In his inaugural
speech, Mr. Xi vowed to fight the rampant corruption he said was fueling
public distrust and that could one day bring down the party.