The Communist Party of China (CPC) has dismissed a senior Chinese economic planning official on suspicion of "serious disciplinary violations," five months after a prominent journalist accused him of corruption.
The CPC organization department has decided to remove Liu Tienan, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), from his post, Xinhua reported Tuesday. China's top discipline inspectors have launched a probe into online allegations made in December that Liu was involved in a corruption case and was plotting to kill his mistress.
The sacking came amid nationwide discussions about the fallen official, whose case has dominated media headlines of late, and experts noted that this case marks a success for China's online anti-graft efforts.
Liu's former mistress, surnamed Xu, was the one who offered vital tips about Liu to Luo Changping, a well-known journalist and deputy managing editor of Caijing Magazine. Luo posted on Sina Weibo on December 6 to report Liu's alleged violations. On Tuesday the 21st Century Business Herald ran a story containing more details about how Xu exposed her former lover.
Xu turned her back on Liu after abandoning a highly risky fraud deal undertaken by Liu and another businessman, Ni Ritao, the report said. After she pulled out, Ni threatened to kill her, the newspaper said.
However, when Liu was being interrogated earlier 2013, he denied Xu was his mistress and that she forged his diploma, yet he confessed that he had helped her to find a job, an anonymous source told the newspaper.
Liu met Xu in Japan when he was the economic counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Japan from 1996 to 1999, the source said, adding Xu helped Liu forge his master's degree in economics from Nagoya University in Japan.
"All the Chinese officials who could get an honorary master's degree in economics from Nagoya University at least registered and wrote essays," the source said. "Liu neither paid a dime nor attended one class."
In 2003, Liu introduced Xu to Ni, from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, and Liu's wife, Guo Jinghua, who were planning to co-found a company in Canada, the source said.
Ni set up two investment companies in Canada in 2003, with Liu's wife as co-chairman of one firm and Liu's son as the chairman of the other, Luo said. Liu helped Ni take out fraudulent loans of some 200 million Canadian dollars ($199 million) from banks in 2011. The source said that Xu was one of the shareholders of the companies, and signed documents leading to the fraud.
"But she felt it was too risky and was unable to continue doing the job, leading her to quit," said the source.
Li Danyang, a public administration scholar with Beihang University, told the Global Times that if Xu is a Canadian citizen now, the discipline inspectors will not be able to start an investigation about her or force her to cooperate in the investigation.
Xu is not the only mistress to recently topple a government official. Yi Junqing, former head of China's Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, was fired in January after his former mistress posted their love history online.
Liu's fall from grace is being hailed as a landmark success for the online anti-graft real-name reporting system, and this case reflects the administration's determination to crack down on corruption, experts say.
"Liu will not be the only high-ranking official sacked in this way, and more similar cases will follow," he said.
While heading the National Energy Association, Liu managed to process and give approval to 50 energy projects from December to the end of February, reports said, covering electricity, wind power, and gas pipelines.
21st Century Business Herald contributed to this story