Exclusive: Chinese Security Chief Zhou Yongkang To Be Investigated

Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to have public security chief Zhou Yongkang investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing.
Exclusive: Chinese Security Chief Zhou Yongkang To Be Investigated
China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image. Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to Wen's request to have Zhou investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images and Feng Li/Getty Images)
5/20/2012
Updated:
10/1/2015
<a><img class="wp-image-1787012" title="China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image" src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/09/composite_wen_zhou.jpg" alt="China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image" width="350"/></a>
China security czar Zhou Yongkang (L) and Premier Wen Jiabao (R), composite image

Chinese leader Hu Jintao has agreed to have public security chief Zhou Yongkang investigated, The Epoch Times has learned from well-placed sources in Beijing.

Zhou headed up the Chinese regime’s massive public security apparatus and controlled the courts, police, and domestic surveillance, but was recently stripped of his authority. He is also widely implicated in severe human rights abuses and considered the current top-ranked member of a faction of party cadres known as the “bloody-hands faction” that rose to prominence under former leader Jiang Zemin by zealously suppressing the Falun Gong meditation practice.

The decision to investigate Zhou was made at a recent meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo that included the Standing Committee, members of the Politburo, local high-ranking officials, top military leaders and retired senior officials of the CCP such as Zeng Qinghong, said the Beijing sources.

At the meeting, top-ranking cadres also affirmed damning evidence against former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai.

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According to the sources, none at the recent meeting challenged the litany of allegations leveled against Bo, with evidence presented by Ling Jihua, director of the general office of CCP Central Committee and secretary of the Central Department of Secretaries.

Ling Jihua submitted evidence in the Bo investigation that included “astonishing corruption,” “suspected involvement in murder,” and “political ambition and plotting a coup.”

Bo, once China’s Minister of Commerce and the face of business for visiting officials and business leaders, was demoted to Party secretary of Chongqing in 2007 after Premier Wen Jiabao argued Bo was unfit for a promotion due to lawsuits filed against him around the world stemming from his persecution of Falun Gong adherents.

After Ling’s presentation, Premier Wen Jiabao challenged Zhou on two fronts. First, Wen reproached Zhou for continuing to support Bo and divulging information to Bo about the Central Committee’s attitude following the Wang Lijun incident. Wang, Bo’s former top cop in Chongqing, attempted to defect to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu. Wen questioned Zhou’s purpose for backing Bo at the time.

Second, Wen brought up a plot by Bo and Zhou to force Xi Jinping, who is expected to take control of the Chinese regime after the National Congress later this year, to leave office after only a short while as leader, and for Bo to assume power. Wen said the plot set an abominable precedent for the Party. Based on those two points, Wen called for an investigation into Zhou.

Chinese leader Hu Jintao backed Wen’s request to have He Guoqiang, the chief of the powerful Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) investigate Zhou.

Zhou had tried to attack Wen by demanding an investigation into Wen’s wife, though this tactic appears to have had little impact.

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Read the original Chinese article.

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