Chinese anti-cult official who targeted Falun Gong faces corruption investigation
- Peng Bo, a former senior figure in the offices for cult affairs and heretical religions, is accused of violating disciplinary rules – a euphemism for graft
- Some reports say Peng had been close of his former boss, the fallen internet tsar Lu Wei
A former Chinese official responsible for cracking down on religious cults is under investigation, the country’s leading anti-corruption watchdog announced on Saturday.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s top disciplinary body, said in a brief statement that Peng Bo, the former deputy director of the party’s office on cult affairs, had allegedly violated disciplinary rules – a euphemism for corruption.
The commission confirmed he was being investigated but did not provide further details.
The office on cult affairs was established in 1999, and its main tasks include cracking down on Falun Gong, a group that was founded in 1992 and was banned as an “evil cult” in 1999.
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Peng, 64, has been a party member since October 1980. He had also served as deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the leading online watchdog, before 2012 and 2015, before moving to the party office on heretical religions, where he was responsible for online propaganda and censoring messages spread by cults.
A major anti-corruption campaign has been under way since 2012, when Xi Jinping took over as Communist Party chief.
Peng made his last public appearance in September, where he told a seminar that the Covid-19 pandemic was a challenge to guiding public opinion online.
During his term at the cyberspace administration, Peng said the Chinese government would support mobile internet development but warned business operators to practice socialist core values and not spread information that violated China’s constitution or undermined national security, national unity and social stability.
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He also said that content that was contrary to the country’s religious policies or those supporting cults, violence and terrorism would be banned, along with pornography.
He also said some illegal websites included “China” or “nation” or the names of national agencies, while others pretended to be “civil rights groups” to gain credibility.
