China’s top anti-corruption official sacked after being found guilty of corruption

Liu Yanping also expelled from Communist Party over ‘collapse of ideals and beliefs’

File image: Chinese President Xi Jinping has made clamping down on official corruption a hallmark of his decade-long tenure (EPA)

The Chinese government has sacked a top anti-corruption official after he was himself found guilty corruption.

Liu Yanping, 67, who headed the investigation of corruption within the national security ministry has been expelled for a “wanton abuse of power”, the Chinese anti-corruption watchdog announced on Thursday.

Mr Liu was expelled from both the ruling Communist Party and from public office at the secretive ministry of state security hearing.

He is the latest senior security official to be punished in the run-up to the party’s Congress in October.

Mr Liu, a former vice-minister of public security, is the fourth such office-holder to be removed since 2019.

His crimes were mainly political in nature, according to the statement by the watchdog, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Chinese president Xi Jinping, expected to secure an unprecedented third leadership term at next month’s party Congress, has made clamping down on official corruption a hallmark of his decade-long tenure.

Besides criticising Mr Liu for a “collapse of ideals and beliefs” and a “loss of party principles,” the CCDI said he had joined the “political gang” of Sun Lijun, another former vice-minister of public security, who was expelled for political crimes and corruption in 2021.

His sacking comes after two other former vice-ministers for public security - Sun Lijun and Fu Zhenghua - were fired for corruption in 2021.

Separately, CCDI also said on Thursday that Wang Bin, former chairman of the China Life Insurance Co and its former Communist Party chief, was expelled from the party and dismissed from public office for bribery and corruption.

Mr Wang was found to have taken bribes and abused his power to seek benefit for others, CCDI said in a statement.

Additional reporting by agencies