Former Bank Executive in China Faces Bribe Accusations

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which oversees Communist Party inquiries into official misconduct, said Yang Kun, a former vice president of the state-controlled Agricultural Bank of China, had been expelled from the party and handed over to criminal investigators, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Mr. Yang, who has been under investigation by the commission since last year, “exploited his position to provide private gain for others and took massive bribes,” the Xinhua report said.

In China, senior officials accused of wrongdoing usually first face the party discipline commission, which decides whether to authorize a legal inquiry that can bring a criminal indictment. With that inquiry now under way, Mr. Yang is likely to face trial and conviction; China’s party-run courts rarely find defendants innocent.

The brief Xinhua report did not detail the specific charges against Mr. Yang. But since last year, Chinese business newspapers and magazines have described a swirl of accusations, including handing out bank loans to help pay off a property developer’s gambling debts and being associated with Gu Junshan, a former deputy commander of the People’s Liberation Army’s General Logistics Department who is under investigation for rampant corruption.

Since coming to power in November, China’s top party leader, Xi Jinping, has repeatedly vowed to end official corruption and extravagance, a major source of public disenchantment with the government. Last week, Wang Qishan, the party leader in charge of investigating official misconduct, said teams of inspectors would be sent across the country to help “stanch the spread of corruption.”

This month, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said it was investigating Liu Tienan, a senior economic policy maker, whom a Chinese journalist last year accused of engaging in tainted business dealings and threatening to kill a mistress who exposed those dealings.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/world/asia/former-bank-executive-in-china-faces-bribe-accusations.html?partner=rss&emc=rss