Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/article/1367381/top-renmin-university-official-detained-corruption-probe
China

Top Renmin University official detained in corruption probe

Renmin student admissions chief intercepted in Shenzhen as he tried to flee country, report says

Cai Rongsheng

A senior staff member at Beijing's prestigious Renmin University is being investigated for corruption after being detained while trying to flee the country.

Legal Evening News, a Beijing newspaper, quoted Wang Jian, secretary of the university's disciplinary committee, as saying that Cai Rongsheng, head of the student admissions office, was intercepted by Shenzhen customs.

But he did not confirm online postings claiming that Cai was using a fake passport and was implicated in a scandal involving hundreds of millions of yuan.

Another university staff member, Hu Juan, executive dean of the School of Education, had been sacked and was also under investigation, the report said. Hu, 41, was secretary to the former president of the university, Ji Baocheng, before she was promoted to senior teaching and management posts.

A spokesman from the university's information office confirmed that the party's graft watchdog had been investigating Cai since last week, but it did not give further details.

It is unclear whether the report is linked to an audit by an inspection team of the Communist Party's Central Discipline Inspection Commission in the summer. The auditors found "weaknesses in the autonomous enrolment of students and other aspects", according to a summary report by the graft watchdog.

There were also criticisms of the administration of the payrolls of leading cadres, lax management over overseas trips, banquets and gifts. Chen Jiwa, head of the auditing team, was quoted as saying that the team had "received complaints about the problems with some cadre members" at the university.

Renmin University is among those that were given a quota to recruit students through its own examinations and assessments, instead of through the national university entrance system. Such quota systems have long been criticised as a potential hotbed for corruption.

Zhang Keyun, a professor of economics at the university, wrote in his blog that he had raised the problem of such malpractices with Ji two years ago.

"In a few days, the media will report on them," he wrote, referring to Cai, Hu and Ji. "[The media] will tell you that my judgment two years ago was correct."

Ji, 68, was president for 11 years before retiring.