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| China’s Ruling Party Expels And Investigates Official | China’s Ruling Party Expels And Investigates Official |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| HONG KONG — China’s Communist Party has authorized a criminal investigation of Li Chuncheng, a disgraced senior official who was close to Zhou Yongkang, the former domestic security chief at the heart of an extensive graft inquiry. | HONG KONG — China’s Communist Party has authorized a criminal investigation of Li Chuncheng, a disgraced senior official who was close to Zhou Yongkang, the former domestic security chief at the heart of an extensive graft inquiry. |
| In an announcement on Tuesday, the party’s anticorruption commission said Mr. Li had been expelled from the party and laid out a series of accusations against him, including bribe taking, “feudal” superstition and personal depravity. | |
| Mr. Li, 58, had been the first official detained in an investigation that later encircled and ultimately entrapped Mr. Zhou. A criminal investigation of Mr. Li could be another sign of President Xi Jinping’s determination to punish Mr. Zhou, a former member of the party’s ruling Politburo Standing Committee, who would be the highest ranking official in the history of the People’s Republic of China to face prosecution for corruption. | |
| According to the party agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Mr. Li “took advantage of his position to seek benefit for others and accepted massive bribes; he took advantage of his position to seek benefit for others, and his wife and daughter accepted massive amounts of wealth and assets; he took advantage of his position to seek to benefit his younger brother’s business activities; he abused his position to engage in feudal superstitious activities and created massive losses to state finances; he was degenerate and depraved.” | According to the party agency, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Mr. Li “took advantage of his position to seek benefit for others and accepted massive bribes; he took advantage of his position to seek benefit for others, and his wife and daughter accepted massive amounts of wealth and assets; he took advantage of his position to seek to benefit his younger brother’s business activities; he abused his position to engage in feudal superstitious activities and created massive losses to state finances; he was degenerate and depraved.” |
| Mr. Li, the first known associate of Mr. Zhou to face a party inquiry, was removed from office only weeks after Mr. Zhou, 71, stepped down from his role as head of the country’s internal security forces in late 2012. | Mr. Li, the first known associate of Mr. Zhou to face a party inquiry, was removed from office only weeks after Mr. Zhou, 71, stepped down from his role as head of the country’s internal security forces in late 2012. |
| The authorities have taken away Mr. Zhou and many of his family members in recent months amid an investigation that has led to the arrests of dozens of Mr. Zhou’s associates. His son Zhou Bin, his sister-in-law Zhou Lingying and his son’s mother-in-law, Zhan Minli, have company assets in their names worth at least $160 million, much of it based on ventures with a state-owned oil company that Mr. Zhou once headed, The New York Times reported this month. | The authorities have taken away Mr. Zhou and many of his family members in recent months amid an investigation that has led to the arrests of dozens of Mr. Zhou’s associates. His son Zhou Bin, his sister-in-law Zhou Lingying and his son’s mother-in-law, Zhan Minli, have company assets in their names worth at least $160 million, much of it based on ventures with a state-owned oil company that Mr. Zhou once headed, The New York Times reported this month. |
| Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in England, said in an email that the announcement against Mr. Li was unusually strong. | Steve Tsang, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham in England, said in an email that the announcement against Mr. Li was unusually strong. |
| But, Mr. Tsang added, it does not necessarily portend formal charges against Mr. Zhou. He said President Xi might need to gain more support from current and former senior officials in order to move formally against someone so influential and powerful. | But, Mr. Tsang added, it does not necessarily portend formal charges against Mr. Zhou. He said President Xi might need to gain more support from current and former senior officials in order to move formally against someone so influential and powerful. |
| Mr. Li moved up the party and government hierarchy in the populous Sichuan Province while Mr. Zhou was the top official there from 1999 to 2002. He rose to become mayor of the provincial capital, Chengdu, and later a deputy party secretary in the province. He is at least the second associate of Mr. Zhou’s to be expelled from the Communist Party this month, after the party’s anticorruption commission said that Guo Yongxiang, a former deputy governor of Sichuan, had also taken “huge bribes” and engaged in acts of “immorality.” | Mr. Li moved up the party and government hierarchy in the populous Sichuan Province while Mr. Zhou was the top official there from 1999 to 2002. He rose to become mayor of the provincial capital, Chengdu, and later a deputy party secretary in the province. He is at least the second associate of Mr. Zhou’s to be expelled from the Communist Party this month, after the party’s anticorruption commission said that Guo Yongxiang, a former deputy governor of Sichuan, had also taken “huge bribes” and engaged in acts of “immorality.” |
| Mr. Zhou, the patron of both Mr. Li and Mr. Guo, has not been charged with any misdeeds. The party authorities have said nothing about his whereabouts, or about what has happened to the many members of his family who have been also detained. | Mr. Zhou, the patron of both Mr. Li and Mr. Guo, has not been charged with any misdeeds. The party authorities have said nothing about his whereabouts, or about what has happened to the many members of his family who have been also detained. |