China's Communist Party arrests its former member and police chief on corruption charges

China's Communist government on Friday ordered the arrest of the former Deputy Minister of Public Security Sun Lijun on charges of corruption, a depraved lifestyle and bias, reported Xinhua on Friday. The former stalwart vice-minister of public security who was sent to Wuhan was arrested soon after China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate on November 5 approved the arrest warrant of the former Chinese politician and police officer. Notably, the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI) has been keeping a track of the police officer since April 2020 over his involvement in a corruption case. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) in September.

Sun quit his post during the fight for COVID pandemic

The media report also said Sun began being examined by the CCDI following the arrest of former Interpol President Meng Hongwei, who had once served as Beijing's Deputy Minister of Public Security. He was arrested on his return to the country in 2018. Subsequently, the former Interpol President was sentenced to 13 years in prison on corruption charges in January 2020.  According to the earlier reports of the Chinese news agency, "The investigation found that on the frontline of fighting the COVID  epidemic, Sun quit his post. He also owned classified materials without permission and was involved in gullible activities for a quite long time."

However, the authorities failed to answer what exactly Sun had done to draw such strong allegations from the authorities. "The probe revealed that Sun never stayed sincere to the party’s ideals and faith, displayed extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity, issued groundless objections of the party’s plans, and spread political rumours," the earlier report said.

National Supervisory Commission got "concrete evidence" against Sun

The 52-year-old was once an assistant to Meng Jianzhu, former secretary of the Chinese Communist Party̵. He had also served as the head of the Department of the Ministry of Public Security of China. During his tenure, he was responsible for internal security and special zones in Hong Kong and Macao. According to Remo News, China's Supreme People's Procuratorate said the National Supervisory Commission, which oversees the corrupt behaviour of Chinese civil servants got "concrete evidence" that could prove his involvement in the corruption cases and transferring the case to the prosecutors.

Image: AP