What’s new: Liu Baohua, a former deputy head of the National Energy Administration (NEA), was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office for alleged corruption and bribery, the country’s top anti-graft watchdog said Wednesday.
Liu, 58, was placed under party investigation in October. Investigators found that Liu illegally intervened in market activities and took huge amounts of bribes to offer business favors for others. Liu will face criminal charges, the graft buster said.
Liu joined the NEA in 2013 and became a deputy chief in 2017.
The background: The NEA, which oversees the country’s energy-related industries, has been rattled by a series of high-profile corruption scandals in recent years. In 2019, Nur Bekri, a former head of the agency, was sentenced to life in prison for taking 79.1 million yuan ($11.8 million) in bribes.
In 2014, another former NEA director, Liu Tienan, was sentenced to life in prison for receiving 35.6 million yuan in bribes. Several other senior agency officials have been brought down on corruption charges over the years.
In February, government inspectors slammed the agency for inefficiency, environmental failures and ideological wavering in an unusually strong official rebuke to a government department.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)
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