Another Hainan ‘tiger’ tangled in a Chinese corruption investigation

Haikou Communist Party boss Luo Zengbin is the 54th senior official to face a discipline investigation this year

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Luo Zengbin is the fourth prominent official to be brought down this year in a series of crackdowns that have shaken the top levels of power in Hainan. Photo: Weibo

Published: 7:20pm, 6 Dec 2024

The southern Chinese island of Hainan – promoted by Beijing as the country’s next free-trade port – has been hit by another corruption scandal, with the Communist Party boss of the provincial capital the target of a disciplinary investigation.

Luo Zengbin, 57, party secretary of Haikou and a member of Hainan’s provincial party standing committee, was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said on Friday.

Luo is the 54th “tiger”, or senior official, to come under investigation by China’s top anti-corruption body this year, a total that already surpasses last year’s tally of 45 tigers.

Before becoming Haikou’s party secretary in January 2022, Luo, a Sichuan native, spent most of his political career in his home province, where he served from 2021 to 2022 as party chief of Mianyang, home to many of China’s top nuclear and military technology research institutions.

His most recent public appearance was on November 22, when he headed a team to inspect private companies, encouraging them to continue to invest in Haikou. Luo’s disappearance from public view had set off speculation in the top levels of Haikou and Hainan province.

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While Beijing has laid out a grand development plan for Hainan, hoping to turn the 35,000 sq km (13,514 square miles) island into the world’s largest free-trade port, the province has been hit by a string of corruption scandals.