China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Conglomerate boss investigated
Letter from whistleblower accuses Song Lin of corruption and bribery
The head of a State-owned conglomerate is under investigation following a reporter’s public accusations of corruption earlier this week.
The Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is investigating Song Lin, chairman of China Resources Co, “for suspected serious violations of discipline and law”, the commission announced on its website on Thursday evening.
On Tuesday, Wang Wenzhi, a journalist with The Economic Information Daily, run by Xinhua News Agency, publicly accused Song of corruption, including accepting bribes, money laundering and keeping a mistress.
On Tuesday, Wang published a whistleblowing letter through his Sina Weibo micro blog. In the letter that was written to the CCDI, Wang said Song accepted bribes and laundered money through a woman named Yang Lijuan, a Union Bank of Switzerland employee who Wang said was Song’s mistress. Wang also uploaded a photo that allegedly showed Song and Yang sitting together on a bed in a hotel room.
Song released a personal statement on the company’s website on Wednesday that called Wang’s accusations “totally fabricated and malicious slander”.
In the statement, Song said that the accusations have ruined the reputation of him, his family members, and the company. He also called on the government to investigate the case as soon as possible.
Wang told The Beijing News on Wednesday that Song had made two threatening phone calls to him last summer, after Wang had publicly accused Song of corruption related to the acquisition of a State-owned coal company in Shanxi province.
“He told me to watch out,” Wang was quoted as saying.
China Resources Co, with 400,000 employees, is a multibusiness holding enterprise group registered and operating in Hong Kong. Song was made the company’s general manager in 2004 and became board chairman in May 2008.
The company was under supervision of the Stateowned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in 2003 when it was listed as a key State-owned enterprise.
China Daily could not reach the company or Song for comment by Thursday evening.
It’s not the first time that officials have been investigated after being publicly accused of corruption.
Lei Zhengfu, former Party secretary of Beibei district in Chongqing municipality, was investigated immediately after he appeared in a sex video that was posted online in November 2012.
On June 28, Lei was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 300,000 yuan ($ 48,200) for crimes that included accepting bribes totaling more than 3.16 million yuan.
Lei appealed on July 13, and the Chongqing Municipal High People’s Court upheld the verdict during the final trial in September.