Former E China official receives punishment for breaking Party disciplines

Zhang Zhinan, former vice-governor of East China's Fujian province, has been punished for breaking Party disciplines and failing to implement the Party's policies in fighting the COVID-19 epidemic, according to top anti-corruption watchdogs.

The Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said in a statement on Wednesday that investigators found Zhang, 59, had "seriously violated the Party's political, organizational, clean-governance and personal conduct disciplines". They also said he was involved in crimes, such as bribery and abuse of power.

Zhang was placed under internal investigation in April, becoming the first provincial-level official to be nailed by anti-graft authorities in 2020.

Investigators found that Zhang was not serious in implementing the Party's policies on combating COVID-19 when the epidemic was at its most crucial time in China. He took advantage of his power to seek profits for family members and relatives, and offered favor to those who gave him money or sexual bribes, causing huge losses to public assets, according to probe findings.

Zhang has been deprived of his Party membership and jobs with irregular and illegal income being confiscated. He also has been transferred to prosecutors for further criminal investigation, the statement said.

Born in October 1960 in Fujian, Zhang joined the Party in 1979 and landed a job on the Party committee in Fujian's Longyan county in 1981.

After moving up through the ranks of local governments for more than 20 years, he was appointed deputy secretary-general of the provincial government in 2002 and then head of the provincial development and reform commission in 2005. In 2008, he was named vice-governor of Fujian.