Former banker and Hubei party boss indicted for accepting ‘especially huge’ bribes

Jiang Chaoliang, Communist Party chief of Hubei when Covid-19 first hit the province and a former prominent banker, has been indicted for accepting “an especially huge amount” of bribes starting in the 1990s.

The investigation into his case, first announced in February last year, has closed, and the Nanjing Municipal People’s Procuratorate has filed a public prosecution with the Nanjing Intermediate People’s Court, according to a statement on Tuesday from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

“Jiang sought benefits for others and illegally accepted property from others in an especially large amount by exploiting the convenience of his positions and the influence derived from his authority and status,” the statement said, officially naming the crimes for the first time.

The statement listed several roles where Jiang allegedly took bribes, including his time as party secretary of Hubei and governor of Jilin province, with the illicit activity dating back to his 1990s tenure as a department director at the Agricultural Bank of China.

Jiang, 68, also appeared in a CCTV documentary series that aired in January during the fifth plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

In the documentary, Jiang confessed that a businessman had spent over a decade cultivating close ties with his family, paying for his children’s education and medical care for his parents. In return, he helped the businessman secure a massive automated teller machine (ATM) procurement contract.