The political cleansing of the financial system by the Chinese Communist authorities continues as more officials in the banking system are being investigated. Recently, Jiang Qicheng, Deputy Inspector of the Agricultural Bank of China and a senior economist, became the first person to be investigated in the banking system in the second half of the year.
On July 3, the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced on their official website that Jiang Qicheng, Deputy Inspector of the Agricultural Bank’s Hunan Provincial Branch, was being scrutinized and investigated.
Public records show that Jiang Qicheng, aged 60, is a member of the Communist Party of China, holds a university degree, and has worked in the Agricultural Bank system for many years. From April 2012, Jiang served as the Party Secretary and President of the Changde Branch of the Agricultural Bank. In September 2018, he was hired as a senior expert by the Hunan Provincial Branch of the Agricultural Bank; in November of that year, he took on the role of Party Secretary and President of the Hengyang Branch of the Agricultural Bank. Jiang stepped down from his position in the Hengyang Branch in February 2022.
In 2022, 58-year-old Jiang Qicheng was appointed as the Deputy Inspector of the Hunan Provincial Branch of the Agricultural Bank. Inspectors and deputy inspectors are non-managerial positions in the civil service, and a deputy inspector should have held a position at the department level for at least four years before assuming the role. The retirement benefits for deputy inspectors are half a level higher than those for department-level officials after retirement.
Jiang Qicheng turned 60 years old this July, reaching the normal retirement age; however, he had already been reported and placed under investigation prior to reaching retirement age.
Since April of this year, the Tenth Inspection Team of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party has been stationed in the Agricultural Bank for about three months, primarily handling letters, calls, and visits related to issues regarding the leadership team of the Agricultural Bank Party Committee, its members, key personnel of the next-level party organizations, and key positions.
Several officials in the Agricultural Bank have been under investigation recently.
On June 13, Song Lei, former senior expert of the Agricultural Bank’s Hebei Provincial Branch, was announced to be under scrutiny and investigation; on May 17, Liu Zhihong, senior expert of the Agricultural Bank Credit Card Center, was reported to be under scrutiny and investigation; and on May 16, former Deputy President of the Agricultural Bank, Lou Wenlong, was reported to be under scrutiny and investigation. Lou Wenlong had left his position 7 years ago. He had previously served as the director of the Beijing Banking Regulatory Bureau and was a senior practitioner in the banking industry, and his downfall had a significant impact on the Chinese financial sector.
On June 4, Liu Shujun, former Deputy General Manager of the Agricultural Bank Custody Business Department, was announced to have been expelled from the Communist Party by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
According to official statistics from the Chinese Communist Party, over the past year, a total of 847 cases were filed in the Agricultural Bank system, 789 individuals were disciplined, 36 cases of job-related crimes were handled, and 8 officials directly managed by the head office were investigated.
According to official data, in the first half of this year, at least 21 executives from six major state-owned banks in China, including policy banks and national commercial banks, were investigated; among them, two were central-level officials, including Lou Wenlong and Li Jiping, former Deputy President of the China Development Bank.
Among the six major state-owned banks in China, in addition to the three executives from the Agricultural Bank under investigation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China also had 3 individuals under investigation. They were Wang Zhibin, former Party Secretary and President of the Hubei Provincial Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Sun Jianyong, former senior expert of the Shandong Provincial Branch, and Ying Weiyun, Deputy President of the Beijing Municipal Branch.
A total of 3 high-level executives from China Construction Bank were implicated, including Fan Ti, senior Deputy Manager of the Guangdong Provincial Branch of China Construction Bank, Li Huafeng, former Party Secretary and Deputy President of the Shenzhen Municipal Branch, and Tong Wentao, former Deputy General Manager of the Asset Management Business Center of China Construction Bank.
One executive from the Bank of Communications, Sheng Jincai, former Deputy President of the Wuxi Branch of the Bank of Communications, was implicated.
Two executives from Postal Savings Bank of China were implicated: Zhang Jun, former senior manager of China Postal Savings Bank, and Ren Guoqing, senior manager of the Liaoning Provincial Branch of Postal Savings Bank of China. Ren Guoqing was the first bank executive announced to be under investigation in January this year.
Among the investigated executives of policy banks, China Development Bank had 3 officials under scrutiny, including Yu Zeshui, former Party Secretary and President of the Shandong Provincial Branch of China Development Bank, Zhang Chi, former Party Secretary and President of the Jilin Provincial Branch, and Wang Zhun, Deputy President of the Qinghai Provincial Branch. Agricultural Development Bank of China had 2 officials under scrutiny, including Lu Chuancai, former Director of Grade One of China Agricultural Development Bank, and Li Guang, former General Manager of the Client Three Department of Agricultural Development Bank of China.
In the first half of this year, several prominent former bank presidents and chairpersons were prosecuted, including Tian Huiyu, former Party Secretary and President of China Merchants Bank Co., Ltd., Tang Shuangning, former Party Secretary and Chairman of China Everbright Group Co., Ltd., and Liu Liange, former Party Secretary and Chairman of China Bank Co., Ltd.
Furthermore, at least 23 officials who had already fallen from grace in the first half of this year were expelled from public office or had their party membership revoked.
The so-called financial anti-corruption campaign by the Chinese Communist Party has been ongoing for many years, but why does the issue of financial corruption persist?
Tang Jingyuan, a Chinese political commentator living in the United States, told Epoch Times that the system of the Communist Party of China is a hotbed for the generation of privileged corruption. The process of financial anti-corruption by the Chinese Communist Party does not actually change the entire financial system to make it more open, transparent, or competitive. This anti-corruption campaign essentially shifts resources from the old corrupt vested interests to a new group of those in power. Since the Chinese Communist Party leads the anti-corruption campaign, it inevitably leads to further corruption in the entire financial industry. After the original group of corrupt individuals is taken down, a new group will emerge.