Former top Chinese spy in Tibet investigated for alleged corruption
Le Dake becomes the first top official from the region to be detained
A former top spy in Tibet is under investigation for suspected corruption, the ruling Communist Party's anti-graft watchdog said on Friday, becoming the first senior-ranking official in the restive region to be felled by graft-busters.
Le Dake, 55, was the first leader at the regional level to be detained in Tibet for alleged corruption in the nationwide crackdown on graft, state media reported.
Reports described him as Tibet's "first tiger", a reference to President Xi Jinping's pledge to go after both high-ranking party officials (tigers) and low-ranking ones (flies) accused of corruption. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said Le was under investigation, but gave no details of the allegations against him.
Le was deputy chief of the People's Congress Standing Committee in Tibet when he was detained.
But his more than 20 years of working in state security has been a greater source of attention. Le was head of Tibet's state security bureau from 2004 until January 2013.
Before that, he was deputy chief of the provincial spy agency for four years in Jiangxi , where he was born and began his police career in 1980.
He transferred from the police to the provincial spy agency in 1994 and worked his way up to become second in command of Jiangxi's state security bureau in 2000.