June 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Communist Party of China announced this Thursday the expulsion of former Defense Ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, accused of corrupt activities that would include accepting bribes, in a new episode of a purge that already became evident in 2023.
Beijing changed its top defense official twice last year, with both changes equally turbulent. Wei Fenghe was promoted to the ministry in 2018, but was demoted in March 2023 when he was replaced by Li Shangfu.
Li spent two months without participating in any event before the Government confirmed his dismissal in October last year. Already then, international observers assumed that some type of investigation was being carried out on him, while Beijing initially opted for silence on this case.
The leadership of the single party has now agreed that neither of the two will be a delegate to the next National Congress, according to information collected by the official Xinhua news agency. In Li’s case, it refers to an internal investigation that began on August 31, 2023, just two days after his last public speech as minister.
The investigations into Wei began about a month later, on September 21, although the conclusions are largely similar and account for the use of the minister’s position to obtain “improper benefits” and allude to alleged bribery. They are accused of obtaining “a large amount of money and assets”, without further details.
The Communist Party speaks of betrayal and disloyalty, while it denigrates the “enormous damage” caused by the two former ministers and that transcends said formation, affecting the development of the Defense and the Armed Forces and “the image of the authorities.” , reads the Xinhua note.
“The violations perpetrated are extremely serious,” the agency states in the two cases examined. The investigations are now in the hands of military justice, which may lead to a criminal conviction in the future.
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