Xu Minjie, a former senior executive of state-owned shipping giant China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco), has been expelled from the party and is now facing prosecution, it was announced today. Xu is accused of taking advantage of his position, fraudulently claiming personal expenses and other “serious” disciplinary violations, according to a statement posted on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s internal anti-corruption agency. Xu, the former vice-president of Cosco, was kicked out of the party days ago. The state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission’s anti-graft branch signed off the expulsion, in accordance with the party’s disciplinary regulations. The investigation has now been transferred to the justice system with prosecution pending. Last November, Cosco announced Xu’s resignation from the company for “personal reasons” – a day after the firm said he was under investigation by an unspecified body – a phrase commonly used in corruption probes. President Xi Jinping has vowed to catch corrupt officials from the the highest to lowest levels of government – dubbed “tigers and flies” – in an extensive anti-corruption campaign launched in 2012. The crackdown has contributed to the downfall of high level party officials, low level cadres, and executives of state-owned enterprises.
