NewSichuan official being investigated for corruption 'owned 100,000 yuan tree'
Li Chongxi is latest Sichuan official to fall under suspicion in widening investigation into former security tsar Zhou Yongkang
The latest senior government official put under official probe for corruption had a tree that was worth 100,000 yuan (HK$127,000) outside his Sichuan home, The Beijing News reported, citing a retired official.
Li Chongxi, a top member of the political advisory body in Sichuan province, who once served as an aide to former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, is under investigation for corruption, it was announced on Sunday.
The chairman of the provincial committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, he is the third senior Sichuan official to fall under suspicion this year in what analysts describe as a widening investigation into Zhou and his supporters.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said yesterday that Li was under investigation for “serious violations of party discipline and the law”, a phrase often used by party graft watchdogs to describe corruption.
A retired Sichuan official told the News that Li had been the subject of several tip-offs to the authorities a few years ago for a tree that was worth more than 100,000 yuan outside his home.
He has also been accused of accepting favours from Zhang Jun, a local businessman, who paid for the renovation of Li’s villa in Chengdu, the report said. Zhang was put under investigation in January.