Official probed on graft allegations

A senior security official is being investigated for corruption, the country's top anti-graft agency announced on Friday.

Li Dongsheng, a vice-minister of public security, is being investigated for "suspected serious law and discipline violations", the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China said in a statement released on Friday evening.

Li is also the deputy head of a central leading group for the prevention and handling of cult-related issues, according to the statement.

The commission gave no further details about the case.

Li, 58, is a member of the 18th CPC Central Committee. There are 205 members, mostly officials at and above ministerial level, on the committee.

Li is the second member of the 18th CPC Central Committee to be investigated for corruption. Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was investigated in September.

There are nine incumbent vice-ministers of public security, and Li ranks No 2 among them.

Li, who used to be deputy head of China Central Television, was deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee from 2002 to 2009 before he became vice-minister of public security in October 2009.

At least 15 ministerial-level officials have been investigated for corruption since the CPC elected its new leadership in November last year.

On Wednesday, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said that Tong Mingqian, vice-chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was being investigated for suspected serious law and discipline violations.

On Dec 6, Chen Anzhong, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, was placed under investigation by the commission.

The commission said earlier this month that 19,896 officials had been punished for violating the rules of clean governance as of late October.

Jiang Ming'an, a law professor at Peking University, said anti-graft authorities have taken unprecedented measures toward corrupt officials since the 18th National Congress of the CPC last November.

"President Xi Jinping vowed to fight both tigers (senior officials) and flies (low-level officials) at the beginning of this year, and the public can see the central authorities' determination on anti-corruption," he said.

Officials should be supervised through multiple channels, including people's congresses, the Party's disciplinary authorities, and public opinion, to prevent corruption, Jiang said.

In a separate case, Cao Jianliao, 58, deputy mayor of Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, was investigated by the provincial anti-graft authorities for "grave discipline violation", the China News Service reported on Friday.

anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn