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.
Top Sichuan Official Removed in Corruption Inquiry
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Top Sichuan Official Removed in Corruption Inquiry
