China's highest prosecutorial authority announced on Friday that a former chairman of China Eastern Airlines Group has been formally indicted on charges of bribery, the latest development in a sweeping anti-graft campaign. The indictment alleges that the ex-official abused several posts to secure benefits for others and accepted bribes in the form of money and valuables, with the accusations encompassing his tenure as the airline's chairman.
The announcement arrives amid a surge of high-profile enforcement actions. State media recently highlighted that former defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were sentenced to death on graft charges, each sentence suspended for two years. Those cases were presented as part of wider efforts to target corruption at the highest levels.
The indicted former China Eastern executive, Liu Shaoyong, was expelled from the Communist Party in January. There has been no immediate comment from Liu regarding the charges.
Authorities say the anti-graft campaign, launched after the current national leader assumed office in 2012, is aimed at both senior figures and lower-level cadres. Officials overseeing the effort have increasingly concentrated on alleged misuse in several areas: public funds, bank credit, assets of state-owned enterprises, infrastructure spending and resources controlled by local governments.
Recent enforcement moves have extended beyond the aviation sector. On Thursday, the party's top disciplinary body reported that Hou Weidong, a former member of the Communist Party Committee and vice president of the Bank of Communications, had been expelled from the party for "serious violations of discipline and law." Authorities said Hou illegally accepted gifts, money and consumption cards, borrowed large sums from management and service recipients, and had others pick up his expenses. His case is under review by the public prosecutor.
The crackdown also reached regional government figures. Jin Zhizhen, a former vice chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous regional committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was expelled from the party and removed from public office for "serious violations of discipline and law." Separately, Zhou Xi'an, a former vice chairman of the Anhui provincial committee of the same advisory body, received a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve, among the country's most severe penalties for graft. State broadcaster CCTV reported that Zhou had illegally accepted money and valuables totaling more than 134 million yuan.
For reference, the exchange rate cited in related reporting places $1 at 6.8043 Chinese yuan renminbi. The coverage also included an external prompt regarding the stock ticker 600115 and a valuation tool, presented as an informational note rather than part of the prosecution details.
Context note: The recent string of indictments, expulsions and sentences illustrates the continued emphasis by authorities on rooting out corruption across a range of public and state-linked institutions, including the aviation sector, banking, state-owned enterprises and provincial-level governance bodies.