Senior Chinese official who ‘lost faith in party and its ideals’ facing trial for corruption

A former senior Communist Party official is facing trial for corruption after investigators announced on Monday that they had closed his case and referred it to state prosecutors.

The official news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that discipline officials have concluded their investigations into Qian Yinan, the former secretary general of the Shaanxi provincial standing committee, adding that he had refused to cooperate with investigators.

The report also said that Qian deserved to be expelled from the Communist Party since he had lost faith in the party and its ideals.

“Investigations showed that Qian Yinan has totally lost his [political] ideals and awareness. He was dishonest and repeatedly rejected help from the party to make amends,” Xinhua said. “He refused to come clean on his problems and attempted to resist the investigations.”

According to the report, Qian is accused of accepting largesse such as cash cards, gifts, health club offers and tour arrangements from private businessmen with whom he used to gamble.

“[Qian] had abused his power for financial gain … and his private life was corrupt too,” Xinhua added. “He had fallen prey to corruption on his own accord.”

Qian’s downfall began in November when mainland media reported that the 54-year-old party veteran had been placed under investigation.

At the time Qian was accused of playing a key part in resisting orders from President Xi Jinping to demolish dozens of illegally built luxury villas in the Qinling Nature Reserve.

Qian is the second senior provincial leader whose alleged crimes were made public in the past week. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s top disciplinary organ, announced on Sunday that Miao Ruilin, former vice-governor of eastern Jiangsu province, had also been purged for “serious violations of the law and [party] discipline”.

The Commission reported that Miao had created a “very bad influence” by “violating disciplinary rules during the ‘Two Sessions’” – a comment that suggests he had made serious mistakes when he attended the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress in 2018.

The commission also accused Miao of “trading power for sex and accepting huge amounts in bribes by taking advantage of his position”.

A professor at the Central Party School, who commented on Miao’s case on condition of anonymity, said: “Ever since he has taken the reins, Xi Jinping has put great emphasis on cadres following party discipline.”

The professor continued that the reference to the People’s Congress indicated that “they want to make sure everyone will get the message”.

Another source who worked in Jiangsu province described Miao as a “low-key” person and expressed surprise that he had made such mistakes.

“[Miao] always kept a low profile and rarely pursued any ambitious projects aggressively. It is hard to imagine him making such mistakes during the all-important ‘Two Sessions’, where everyone was being closely watched,” the source said.

Meanwhile, Zeng Zhiquan, former head of Guangdong’s United Front Department, stood trial on Monday for accepting 140 million yuan (US$20.8 million) in bribes over a 14-year period when he was the director of Guangdong’s finance department.

The Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court said in a posting on social media that Zeng had confessed his crimes at the trial. His sentence will be announced later.