China Party boss killing likely to worry Beijing
2008-02-13

Category Corruption Murder Nations China States Neimenggu

A police chief in north China shot dead a senior local Communist Party official and a woman before killing himself, fanning speculation of a seamy corruption scandal that has drawn huge interest and is likely to alarm Beijing.

Wang Zhiping, deputy Party chief of Hohhot, capital of the northern region of Inner Mongolia, and a female tax official were found dead in his office on February 5, Caijing magazine said.

Wang, 54, a former soldier, was gunned down by Guan Liuru, police chief of Hohhot's economic development zone, Caijing said in a report on its Web site (www.caijing.com.cn) on Wednesday.

"An investigation team from the Ministry of Public Security has been sent to Hohhot," said the report, which was republished by major news portals, including state news agency www.xinhuanet.com.

A Hong Kong-based rights watchdog, the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, also reported the scandal which is likely to alarm officials in Beijing obsessed with stability and their own clean image.

Guan's motive was not immediately known.

China has seen a series of violent crimes involving senior officials in recent years as corruption becomes a rampant problem, one that the Party says will threaten its own survival if not curbed.

In September 2007, Duan Yihe, former head of the local legislature in Jinan, capital city of the eastern Shandong province, was executed for blowing up his mistress with a car bomb.

(Reporting by Guo Shipeng and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie)