One of China’s top anti-corruption chiefs is charged with accepting £51 million in bribes

• Dong Hong was a senior figure in China’s top anti-corruption watchdog 
• The former aide of Vice-President Wang Qishan is accused of accepting millions
• Prosecutors say he has accepted around £51 million over two decades
• A Chinese lawyer familiar with corruption cases said he will likely face life imprisonment or a suspended death sentence
• Lai Xiaomin, the ex-chairman of one of China’s state-controlled asset management firms, was executed in January for taking over a billion yuan in bribes

A former chief of China’s top anti-corruption watchdog has been charged with accepting 460 million yuan – around £51 million – in bribes. 

Dong Hong, 67, who occupied the position of deputy leader of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) until 2018, was brought to trial on Thursday at the Intermediate People’s Court of Qingdao in eastern China.

Prosecutors accused Dong of accepting bribes totalling 460 million yuan across two decades of his political career, including during his time as the anti-corruption chief for the Communist Party.  

In addition to his position at the CCDI, Dong was also a personal aid to Chinese Vice-President Wang Qishan, and before that to party elder Bo Yibo.

Dong ‘confessed to his crimes and expressed repentance’ according to the court, which was subsequently adjourned with sentencing expected at a later date.

Dong ‘confessed to his crimes and expressed repentance’ according to the court, which was subsequently adjourned with sentencing expected at a later date.

Prosecutors accused Dong of accepting bribes totalling 460 million yuan across two decades of his political career, including during his time as the anti-corruption chief for the Communist Party, reported state-TV station CCTV

Dong first stepped into an important role within the Chinese government in 1983 when he served as an aide to Bo Yibo, and prosecutors believe that Dong’s long and devious history of corruption started as early as 1999, when he was secretary to Wang Qishan. 

He began to work with Wang in 1998 before working his way up the ladder, first as part of the Hainan provincial party committee, then in Beijing’s municipal government, at the party’s Central Literature Research Office, and on the CCDI’s central inspection team.

Dong was named a leader of the CCDI inspector group after Xi Jinping became the party’s general secretary in 2012.

CCTV’s report said nearly 20 people attended the trial – fewer than usual, with social distancing being observed. The audience included deputies to the National People’s Congress, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and some journalists. 

A Chinese lawyer who has been involved with previous high profile corruption cases told the South China Morning Post that Dong may receive a suspended death sentence or life imprisonment. 

Though an incredibly serious offence, the amount of money he is accused of taking in bribes is considerably lower than the 1.8 billion yuan of Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of Huarong, one of China’s largest state-controlled asset management firms.

Lai was sentenced to death for accepting the eye-watering sums of money along with other corruption charges and was executed in January.

According to the lawyer, there have been a number of similar cases to that of Dong’s in the past in China. 

‘Xing Yun, the former Inner Mongolia head of public security, was given a suspended death sentence in 2019 for accepting 449 million yuan in bribes. Dong’s case looks similar,’ said the lawyer.

‘Another similarity is that Xing was also detained for investigation years after he retired.’

Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co., was sentenced to death on January 5, 2021 for soliciting £189 million in bribes

A Chinese lawyer who has been involved with previous high profile corruption cases told the South China Morning Post that Dong may receive a suspended death sentence or life imprisonment (Pictured: Lai Xiaomin

Dong was detained by the CCDI last October for ‘serious violations of the law and party discipline’, a euphemism for corruption. 

The CCDI accused its former investigator of having ‘totally lost his ideals and convictions’, having been ‘disloyal to the party’ and having ‘engaged in superstitious activities and intervened in disciplinary and law enforcement matters through illegal means’.

Dong was also accused of indulging in extravagance by ‘frequenting private clubs and attending banquets that might have compromised how he discharged his official duties’.

His case was handed over to the judiciary in April, after he was stripped of his party membership and all retirement benefits.

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