China investigates corruption former president of two state oil companies

Achinese authorities announced this Saturday the opening of an investigation against Fu Chengyu, former president of the state oil giants Sinopec and China’s Offshore National Petroleum Corporation (CNOOC), for alleged “serious violations of discipline and law.”.

The brief statement of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (PCC) did not provide details of the alleged irregularities attributed to Fu, which is under investigation by the said institution and the National Supervisory Commission, the main anti-corruption bodies of the ruling party and the state, respectively.

In China, the formulation “serious violations of discipline and law” is usually used by the anti-corruption apparatus to announce investigations that often end up related to bribes or other economic crimes.

Fu, 75 years old, joined CNOOC at its founding in 1982 and took over the presidency in 2003, at a stage of rapid growth and remarkable international expansion of the company, according to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post. In 2011, he became president of Sinopec, a position he left to retire in 2015.

With more than three decades of career in the Chinese oil industry, Fu is the latest high-level figure accused of corruption in the Asian giant.

Since taking power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has been driving an anti-corruption campaign, which has hit political leaders, state-owned leaders and high-ranking military commandos.

Beijing presents the campaign as an instrument to strengthen internal discipline and combat what Xi classified as “the greatest threat” to the CPC, although some observers consider it to also serve to remove certain figures from political life.

The announcement appears only a few days after the XX Central Committee of the Party concluded its fifth plenary session, focusing on discipline and anti-corruption efforts.