New | Chinese vice-president Li Yuanchao’s former aide sacked for ‘corrupting others’
Communist Party expels Zhao Shaolin, accusing him of offering bribes to other top officials to further his son's property business
An associate of China's Vice-President Li Yuanchao was on Friday expelled from the Communist Party for forming political factions and "courting and corrupting other senior cadres".
The accusations levelled against Zhao Shaolin, former head of Jiangsu province's party committee secretariat, sparked speculation over whether other senior officials would be implicated.
Zhao was a top aide to Li as well as former vice-premier Hui Liangyu when they headed the party in Jiangsu.
The "courting and corrupting" accusation, in its official context, is usually used on bribe-paying businessmen and rarely on corrupt cadres. The term was last year used by party mouthpiece People's Daily to describe mafia boss Liu Han , who bribed several senior officials in Sichuan province.
Chinese Academy of Governance professor Wang Yukai said the accusations could mean Zhao's case was linked to higher officials. "I believe the term means [Zhao] paid bribes to other officials, even cadres of higher rank than him, so they gave the green light to his son's business," Wang told the South China Morning Post.
The disgraced official's son, Zhao Jin, a Tianjin-based real estate developer, allegedly used his government connections to cheat homeowners and intimidate angry buyers, financial news outlet Caixin reported in May.