New | Focus turns to subordinates in graft probe into China's environment vice-minister Zhang Lijun
Three other top environmental officials who reported to Zhang Lijun in custody, report says
More heads are set to roll in the corruption scandal involving China's Ministry of Environmental Protection after the former deputy minister Zhang Lijun became the first senior environmental cadre to be investigated last month.
According to a report by Prism, the financial news portal of the Tencent internet conglomerate, three other senior ministerial officials who reported to Zhang have also been detained by the authorities.
Another senior official who ranked higher than Zhang had also been tipped off as a graft target by a letter of complaint, the report said on Monday.
Authorities announced the investigation against Zhang, 63, last week. His toppling is set to unleash a wave of corruption scandals within the ministry.
Inspectors from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's top-level anti-graft body, found some officials had profited by running risk-assessment agencies or their relatives had intervened to influence the outcome of reviews. The CCDI did not name guilty officials, but said the review system was flawed and needed to be reformed.
Citing numerous environmental protection officials, Prism said Zhang was accused of abusing power for personal gain of a large sum of money that he gave to his subordinates and family members.