... and Shaanxi’s Wei Minzhou makes 128. Another ‘tiger’ falls in China’s anti-graft campaign
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign has claimed its 128th “tiger”, with the Communist Party investigating the former right-hand man of its top personnel official.
In a statement late on Monday, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Wei Minzhou, deputy head of the Shaanxi people’s congress, had been detained and was under investigation for suspected severe violations of party discipline, a euphemism for corruption.
Wei, 61, was seen as a top aide to Politburo member Zhao Leji between 2007 and 2012, when Wei was secretary general of the Shaanxi party committee and Zhao was the provincial boss.
In 2012, Wei became the party chief of Xian, Shaanxi’s capital, at the same time as Zhao, 60, was promoted to head up the party’s Central Organisation Department, a powerful body responsible for approving appointments of officials at or above vice-ministerial rank. Zhao was also made a Politburo member and is considered a contender for a seat on the Politburo’s innermost Standing Committee later this year.
The announcement of the investigation into Wei came less than three hours after he appeared on the provincial evening newscast, having attended several official functions that day.
As the latest disgraced former party boss of a regional capital, Wei follows in the footsteps of Chen Chuanping from Taiyuan in Shanxi, Wan Qingliang from Guangzhou in Guangdong, Yang Weize from Nanjing in Jiangsu, and Wan Min from Jinan in Shandong. Former Nanning party Yu Yuanhui and Qiu He, who was the party secretary of Kunming, have also come under investigation.
