Chinese Politburo member latest ensnared by corruption crackdown

Ray

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Chinese Politburo member latest to be ensnared by corruption crackdown

China's renewed crackdown on rampant political corruption may have netted its biggest scalp to date amid reports that a member of its powerful Politburo had been placed under investigation.




Li Jianguo, the vice-chairman of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, has reportedly checked into a Beijing hospital after the investigation left him suffering from "psychological stress"

Li Jianguo, the vice-chairman of China's parliament, the National People's Congress, reportedly checked into a Beijing hospital after the investigation left him suffering from "psychological stress", according to Hong Kong's Ming Pao.

Mr Li, who is the former party secretary of Shaanxi Province, has not been formally charged with any offence and the precise nature of the investigation is unclear.

Speculation is mounting however that he will become the most senior Communist Party official to fall foul of a high-profile anti-graft campaign launched at the end of last year by Xi Jinping, the incoming president.

The reports about Li Jianguo came as rumours swirled that Bo Xilai, the disgraced former party chief of Chongqing, was on the verge of being tried for corruption and his role in the November 2011 murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

China's political rumour mill has gone into overdrive since a Friday report in the Hong Kong-based newspaper, Ta Kung Pao, claimed Mr Bo's trial would begin on Monday in the southwestern city of Guiyang.

The court has denied the report and Li Xiaolin, a lawyer with ties to Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, told the Daily Telegraph on Sunday the claims were "impossible." When Mr Bo is tried he will face charges of corruption, philandering and a possible role in the cover-up of Mr Heywood's death. Last year state media accused him of taking "advantage of his office to seek profits for others" and taking "huge bribes personally and through his family". His wife was convicted of Mr Heywood's murder last August.

Few believe Mr Bo will be executed for his crimes, as is possible under Chinese law.

But an unflinching opinion piece in state news agency Xinhua on Friday reignited debate over the possibility of Mr Bo being given the death sentence.
"Iron disciplines must be implemented with an iron fist," Xinhua argued.

"The odds Bo gets a ride in the lethal injection van are higher than many assume," Bill Bishop, a senior fellow at the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute, wrote on his Sinocism blog.

Chinese Politburo member latest to be ensnared by corruption crackdown - Telegraph

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Is this politburo member really a rank corrupt chap or is it a witch hunt?

He had very quick rise since he was the secretary of Li Ruihuan, the then Party chief of Tianjin.

Must have made a lot of enemies.
 

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