Beijing—Chinese prosecutors have charged disgraced senior Communist Party official Sun Zhengcai with bribery, state media said on Feb. 13.
Sun, once widely considered the successor to the Party’s top leader position, was abruptly removed from his post as the party secretary of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing—one of China’s most important cities—in July 2017, and replaced by Chen Min’er, who is close to current Party leader Xi Jinping.
In a flurry of activity before the week-long Lunar New Year break begins on Thursday, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also announced it would prosecute the former head of China’s internet regulator, Lu Wei.
Sun was later accused of leaking secrets, bribery, and abusing his power, and in November was expelled from the roster of officials in the Party’s rubber-stamp legislature, removing his immunity from prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of that body.
It has not been possible to reach Sun or a representative for comment since he was put under investigation.
Sun was charged with bribery for “illegally accepting a huge amount of assets from others” during various posts going back 15 years in Chongqing, Beijing, Jilin Province, and as Minister of Agriculture, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua, citing prosecutors. His case had been sent to the first intermediate court in the northeastern city of Tianjin.
On Jan. 14, the state-run newspaper of Jilin Province, where Sun served as party chef from 2009 until late 2012, commented on the severity of Sun’s crimes in a published article. “The enormity of the sums involved in Sun Zhengcai’s case and the seriousness of the crimes have rarely been seen since the founding of new China,” Jilin Daily said, referring to when the Chinese Communist Party took over the country in 1949. It did not provide additional details.
In a separate statement, the Party’s anti-corruption watchdog said former internet chief Lu Wei had been expelled from the Party and his post. Lu awaits prosecution for bribery.
A party probe found that Lu was “arbitrary and tyrannical,” abusing his power for personal gain and pretending to follow the rules when in fact he was doing the opposite, the watchdog said.
