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Flies and Tigers | 抓蝇打虎

Nanjing mayor sacked in corruption probe
南京市长季建业被免职

Source: Agencies | October 20, 2013, Sunday | Print Edition

The mayor of the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing has been removed from his post for corruption, the latest official to fall foul of a crackdown on graft.

Ji Jianye was fired for “suspected serious disciplinary violations,” a term that typically refers to the corruption, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday. The decision was made by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Another Party body, which investigates corruption, said on Thursday that Ji was suspected of serious violations of Party discipline and the law, but gave no further details.

Ji had been mayor of Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, with 8 million inhabitants, since January 2010.

The People’s Daily said 56-year-old Ji is being investigated over his relationship with a high-profile Jiangsu construction magnate, who is now in detention. It said Ji had a reputation for steering lucrative government development contracts to friends and associates, and put the figure for funds involved in his case at 20 million yuan (US$3.2 million).

Ji has come under criticism for problems with a number of large-scale construction programs in the city.

Work began in early 2010, soon after Ji became mayor, and has led to huge disruption in the historic city that was capital in six dynasties.

And in 2009, when Ji was acting mayor, there were street protests over the removal of the city’s beloved plane trees — a symbol of Nanjing — for a subway project.

Investigations into Ji are said to be connected to a probe into Zhu Xingliang, the richest man in Suzhou in Jiangsu.

Investigators said Ji contracted many projects to Zhu’s Jintanglang construction company.

Ji spent his entire political career in Jiangsu including stints as the mayor and Party secretary of both Kunshan and Yangzhou. In Nanjing he was the deputy Party secretary as well as the mayor.

President Xi Jinping has vowed to crack down on corruption at all levels of the government, calling graft a threat to the future of the Party.

Last month, a Chinese court sentenced Bo Xilai, previously a member of the Party’s politburo and Party chief of the southwestern city of Chongqing, to life in prison for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. Bo has vowed to appeal.

And former vice governor of northeastern Jilin Province, Tian Xueren, went on trial accused of taking 19.2 million yuan in bribes.

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