Former Chongqing anti-crime hero Tang Jianhua arrested on bribery suspicion
Chongqing's former deputy police chief was once honoured for fighting criminal gangs
A former deputy police chief in Chongqing, hailed as a crime-busting hero at the height of a massive anti-triad campaign in the municipality, has been arrested on suspicion of taking bribes, mainland media reported yesterday.
Tang Jianhua, 51, was arrested by prosecutors in Chongqing on August 13, according to the online version of the Beijing-based , which added that his wife was detained nine days later.
The report, widely circulated on mainstream news portals, quoted unidentified sources close to Tang's family as saying that he was taken away on June 27 amid an investigation.
In February 2010, days before he was promoted to deputy head of police in Chongqing, Tang was honoured for his role in a sweeping crackdown on the megacity's rampant underground criminal organisations. The campaign was led by Bo Xilai, the now-disgraced former party chief of the municipality, and Tang's then boss, former police chief Wang Lijun.
Wang set off the biggest political scandal in decades when he sought asylum at the US consulate in Chengdu, the capital of neighbouring Sichuan province, in early February. This led to Bo's downfall in March.
As a result, four of Tang's colleagues were given jail terms last month ranging from five to 11 years after being convicted of covering up for Gu Kailai, Bo's wife, after she murdered Neil Heywood, a British businessman and friend of Bo's family, in November. The four officers were Guo Weiguo , another deputy police chief in the southwestern municipality; Li Yang, the former head of Chongqing's criminal investigation squad; Wang Pengfei, the former police chief of Chongqing's Yubei district; and Wang Zhi, the former deputy police chief of Shapingba district.
Separately yesterday, Luo Lin, who was said to be one of Bo's close allies and who was purportedly implicated by Bo's downfall, has been named deputy head of the All-China Federation of Supply and Marketing Co-operatives.
Luo, 57, was formerly the director of the State Administration of Work Safety, and there were unconfirmed reports he had been placed under investigation for covering up serious coal mine accidents, as well as other accidents, in Chongqing.
Luo was removed from his director position in late May, a few weeks after Bo's Politburo membership was suspended in early April.
