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The Wall Street Journal reported that Sun Lijun was involved in a proposal by the Chinese government to help a former Malaysian prime minister by offering to monitor WSJ reporters who were investigating the politician’s ties to 1MDB.
Sun, during his tenure as vice-minister of public security, had wide-ranging connections throughout the legal system, including with a senior Chinese police official who went from being president of Interpol to now serving a 13-year sentence in China for accepting bribes.
Internal investigators, who in April 2020 alleged that Sun was under probe, now accuse him of numerous personal, financial and political improprieties.
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His ejection from the party indicates a formal prosecution against him will follow.
The notice from the party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection accused Sun of rumour-mongering, deception, theft, extravagance and immorality, as well as disloyalty to the party, superstition and negligence in stopping the spread of Covid-19, WSJ reported.
There have also been reported links between Sun and a high-ranking executive of Shenzhen internet company Tencent Holdings Ltd, who has been detained over alleged illegal sharing of information from the firm’s WeChat app.
The probe against Sun indicates that the anti-corruption campaign started in the early days of President Xi Jinping’s reign is far from over as he looks to cling to power.
The prosecution of senior Chinese officials for corruption has been a key feature of Xi’s nearly nine years at the top of the ruling party.
Details of the anti-corruption strikes are often murky, but many have been launched against officials considered rivals to Xi.
Commenting on the report in a tweet, journalist and author of Billion Dollar Whale, Tom Wright, alleged that Sun had also served as a sort of “protector” for fugitive businessman and key 1MDB figure Low Taek Jho.
He questioned what Sun’s ejection from the ruling party would mean for Low, given that he is presumed by many to be in China.
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