26 October 2015
The Chinese stock market soared over 150% in one year. The unregulated growth set the market in a tailspin tumbling nearly 40% between June and August. The massive intervention by the government cost the government 100s of billions of dollars. Authorities launched high profile enquiry into the crash to reassure the public.
The anti-corruption agency has now turned its attention to the financial industry consisting of banks, insurance companies and the stock exchange. This has caused some concern among the top brass in the industry. It also has some unsettling effect on foreign and domestic investors.
Wang Qishan, who is in charge of fighting corruption, says that fighting corruption is in the Chinese culture from ancient times. He said that the party’s rules on fighting corruption can be traced back to the ancient morality of the Chinese people.
Two more former aids of the former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, were handed down jail term of 20 years. Wang Yongchun, former deputy general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), was fined US$ 320,000 and sentenced to 20 year jail term for taking 48 million yuan in bribes over more than a decade.
Guo Yongxiang, former deputy governor of Sichuan province, was also handed down similar sentence for receiving more than 43 million yuan in bribes, largely through his family network, between 2001 and 2013.
Guo cooperated with the investigation, and received a reduced sentence, said the court while passing the sentence.
The rulings came a day after former CNPC chairman Jiang Jiemin was jailed for 16 years, and Li Chuncheng , formerly Sichuan province’s deputy chief of the Communist Party, was given 13 years after both were found guilty of graft. Both were allies of Zhou Yongkang.
These sentences make a big dent on Zhou Yongkang’s power base.
