China’s graft-busters investigate Sinopec chief Wang Tianpu
Wang allegedly awarded Sinopec contracts to relatives, mainland report says
The president of China’s largest oil refiner is being investigated on suspicion of corruption, the nation’s disciplinary watchdog said on Monday.
Wang Tianpu, president of China Petrochemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec, was being investigated for “suspected serious violations of law and discipline”, a euphemism for corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.
Wang is the latest senior oil industry executive to be investigated as President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft drive puts its focus on state-owned firms. Many of those probed have been linked to disgraced former security tsar Zhou Yongkang . State-run media have referred to the officials as the “oil gang”.
The CCDI did not elaborate, but news outlet Caixin said Wang, who became Sinopec’s president in August 2011, was suspected of abusing his power to award contracts to family members. He also allegedly favoured Zhou’s son, Zhou Bin , with equipment sales.
Sinopec said on its Weibo account that it had held a meeting on the investigation into Wang, and that the company supported the anti-corruption initiative. “All people who have violated laws and discipline will be punished regardless of their rank,” it said.
The central authorities have been focusing the anti-graft drive, which has been ongoing for two years, on the energy sector. The CCDI said last month that the general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Liao Yongyuan , was being investigated.
In February, the CCDI finished a three-month inspection at Sinopec and warned it needed to act against nepotism and other corrupt practices. The group’s chairman, Fu Chengyu , vowed to root out corruption, “no matter who was involved”.
Wang was promoted in 2001 from being vice-president of Qilu Petrochemical Company to being an executive of its parent company, Sinopec. Since 2001, more than 10 officials of Qilu have been investigated, but Wang was not one of them. Wang made his last public appearance at a Sinopec board meeting on April 24.
Last year, he and other company executives were disciplined over an explosion in Qingdao, Shandong prvince, which killed 62 people in 2013.
The announcement of the probe into Wang came amid speculation in the Beijing-based Economic Information Daily that Sinopec and CNPC would merge to build a company equivalent to Exxon Mobil or BP.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission denied this. “The story was written without verification from us,” it said.
Sinopec is listed on stock markets in Hong Kong, New York, London and Shanghai. Its shares surged in Shanghai and Hong Kong yesterday on speculation that the government was considering consolidating the industry.
