China investigates former aide of Vice-President Wang Qishan for alleged corruption
- Government inspector investigated over ‘suspected serious violation of laws and party rules’
- Dong Hong worked with Wang from 1998 until the latter stepped down as anti-graft tsar three years ago
Dong Hong, who himself is a former senior disciplinary inspector for the central government, was under investigation for “suspected serious violation of laws and party rules”, according to a terse statement by the National Supervisory Commission (NSC), the country’s top anti-graft watchdog.
Dong was one of the group leaders of central inspection groups during Xi’s first term, when Wang was head of powerful anti-corruption agency the Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection (CCDI) and spearheaded Xi’s unprecedented anti-graft drive. The CCDI later expanded to become a corruption super-watchdog, the NSC.
Some past media reports about Dong, as well as his biography on Baike, China’s equivalent of Wikipedia, were no longer accessible by late Friday afternoon.
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State-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao reported in 2014 that Dong had a long-term working relationship with Wang beginning in 1998, sharing stints in Guangdong, Hainan and Beijing, and at the now defunct State Council General Office of Economic Reform.
