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China investigates former senior justice official and Interpol committee member Liu Zhiqiang

  • Beijing’s top anti-graft agency says Liu is ‘suspected of serious violations of discipline and law’, which is widely understood to mean corruption
  • Liu worked with Tang Yijun, China’s justice minister from 2020 to 2023, who was also placed under investigation this month

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China’s former vice-justice minister Liu Zhiqiang has been  placed under investigation, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Photo: SCMP
Sylvie Zhuangin Beijing
Beijing’s former vice-justice minister Liu Zhiqiang, who once served on the committee of Interpol, is under investigation in China, according to the country’s top anti-graft agency.
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The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection published a brief statement on its website on Tuesday saying Liu, 60, was “undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation” and was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption.

The statement did not give further details.

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Liu was vice-minister at the Ministry of Justice from January 2016 to June 2023.

He majored in English in Beijing in the early 1980s and spent more than three decades in police-related foreign affairs positions before moving to the ministry, public records show.

Liu started as a junior staff member at the Ministry of Public Security’s foreign affairs bureau in 1984 and rose through the ranks in its European and American affairs division.

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In 1991-92, Liu was sent by the Chinese government to study police science and criminal justice at the University of Exeter in Britain where he earned a master’s degree.

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