What’s new: Zeng Changhong, a former securities supervisor who oversaw new stock offerings, has been expelled from the Communist Party and faces corruption charges, the country’s top burglars said on Friday.
Zeng was subjected to a Party investigation six months ago. The 61-year-old officer has committed serious breaches of party discipline, committed grave derelictions of duty and is suspected of crimes involving substantial illegal gains, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission. The case was handed over to the judiciary for criminal investigation.
“Zheng had long used her position in reviewing securities issues to recklessly amass fortunes…received money and luxury gifts as bribes…and engaged in illegal profit-making activities,” the anti-graft agencies said in a statement.
The amount of the alleged bribes in Zeng’s case was not specified, but several people said they could amount to hundreds of millions of yuan.
The context: Zeng was a veteran official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) after joining the agency in 1998. She has served, among other things, as Associate Director of the Department of Public Offerings Control and Chief Inspector at the Investor Protection Bureau.
Zeng spent nearly 16 years in the Public Offers Commission’s oversight department and had a strong say in approving stock sales, people familiar with the matter said.
Zeng is among a number of securities regulators under investigation in recent years as Beijing ramped up its crackdown on financial market abusers. In 2015, Li Liang, a colleague of Zeng’s in the Public Supply Control Department, was expelled from the party on allegations of corruption. In January this year, Tong Daochi, another former CSRC official and former Sanya Party chief, pleaded guilty to insider trading and taking bribes totaling 274 million yuan ($43 million).
Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related quick news stories for you to use.
Contact reporter Han Wei ([email protected]) and editor Bob Simison ([email protected])
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