BEIJING • A senior Chinese official who was considered a contender for top leadership has been put under investigation, three sources with ties to the leadership said, ahead of a Communist Party congress in the autumn where China’s President Xi Jinping will cement his grip on power..
BEIJING • A senior Chinese official who was considered a contender for top leadership has been put under investigation, three sources with ties to the leadership said, ahead of a Communist Party congress in the autumn where China’s President Xi Jinping will cement his grip on power.
Mr Sun Zhengcai, 53, had been party chief of the south-western megalopolis of Chongqing, until an abrupt announcement on Saturday morning that he no longer had the position and had been replaced by a rising political star close to Mr Xi.
The announcement, carried by state news agency Xinhua, did not say Mr Sun had a new position or use wording to suggest he was waiting for a further appointment.
A source who has been briefed on the matter said Mr Sun is suspected of “serious discipline violations”, a term that can encompass everything from taking bribes to not toeing the party line. The source added that it was a “conversation investigation”, meaning it was not yet at the stage of a formal probe.
A second source with ties to the leadership told Reuters that Mr Sun is undergoing investigation for suspected “violation of political discipline”. The source declined to elaborate. “But he is still a comrade. He is still a Politburo member, ” the source said, referring to the party’s 25-member decision-making body.
Officials are stripped of their title “comrade” once a formal legal case is filed against them and they are expelled from the party. Officials are sometimes put under investigation but not formally charged.
