Update | Ex-energy chief Liu Tienan expelled from party over graft
Liu Tienan among the most senior officials to be taken down in anti-corruption drive
A former deputy head of China’s top planning agency has been thrown out of the Communist Party and will be prosecuted for corruption, state media said on Thursday, after allegations against him were first posted online.
Liu Tienan was sacked in May. Luo Changping, deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative magazine Caijing, posted accusations on his microblog last December that Liu was involved in a number of illegal activities.
“Liu Tienan took advantage of his position to seek profits for others, and both Liu and his family accepted a huge amount of bribes,” the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a statement from the party’s graft-fighting watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Liu “sought benefits for his relatives’ businesses by breaking relevant regulations, accepting cash and gifts”, the news agency added.
Liu was also “morally degenerate”, Xinhua said in a brief report, without providing other details of the accusations.
He had been handed over to the judicial authorities, Xinhua added, who will formally charge him and take his case to court.
The National Development and Reform Commission, which Liu used to work for, is a powerful body that sets broad economic policies and approves major investments.