What’s new: An ex-vice chairman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region’s top legislature has come under investigation, the country’s top anti-graft agencies announced.
Du Zi, former deputy chief of the regional legislature’s standing committee, is being investigated for suspected violations of party discipline and law, according to a Monday statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The phrase is a common euphemism for corruption.
The 68-year-old is among a number of officials that have been investigated for corruption since 2017 who had previously served in senior roles in Ordos and Tongliao, two prefecture-level cities in the resource-rich region in northern China.
The background: Du, a native of Inner Mongolia’s capital Hohhot, studied Chinese in college and worked on the editing side of an education-focused magazine for more than a decade. He then became director of the autonomous region’s publicity department in 1991.
From 2007 to 2011, Du served as mayor and later party chief of Ordos, before he was transferred to Tongliao, where he was party secretary until 2018.
In addition to Du, at least five other officials who served as mayor or party secretary in Tongliao — as well as three others in Ordos — have been investigated in the past six years or so, including Xing Yun, who pleaded guilty in August 2019 to accepting 449 million yuan ($64 million) in bribes, and Yun Guangzhong, who was also a former party chief of Hohhot.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
