Shanghai police chief under investigation as anti-corruption campaign targets security services
- Gong Daoan is the second major city police commander to be placed under investigation since the start of a major anti-graft drive
- ‘Rectification campaign’ is designed to root out political disloyalty and corruption among law enforcement, judges and prosecutors
Shanghai’s police chief has been placed under investigation by anti-corruption investigators amid a major purge targeting corruption and political disloyalty in China’s massive security apparatus.
Gong Daoan, Shanghai’s police chief since 2017, is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and the law” and has been placed under investigation, according to a brief notice by the Central Committee of Discipline Inspection, the party’s top anti-graft watchdog.
The notice did not give further details of the allegations against him but investigations of this kind can lead to anything from a major demotion to a death sentence.
The downfall of Gong, 56, who is also one of the city’s deputy mayors, follows the start of a nationwide “education and rectification” campaign last month.
The campaign, is designed to root out corruption among police officers, prosecutors and judges, according to the party’s law enforcement body, and will run until 2022.
Gong’s fall underlines the magnitude of the campaign, said Gu Su, a political scientist at Nanjing University.