Li Keqiang’s Cousin and Other “Financial Tigers” Investigated and Sentenced as CCP Anti-Corruption Shifts Toward Economic Motives

On March 5, 2023, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (right) walked past Chinese President Xi Jinping after delivering the government work report during the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images)

[People News] On November 19, Zhu Congjiu, former Vice Governor and Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Political Consultative Conference, was sentenced to life imprisonment. Zhu was retroactively investigated for 20 years and found guilty of accepting over 105 million yuan (RMB) in bribes.

Zhu, now 58, worked in China’s financial regulatory system for 23 years—four years with the People’s Bank of China and 19 years with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Shanghai Stock Exchange. He became Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province in May 2012 and was appointed Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Political Consultative Conference in January 2023. Rumors suggest that Zhu is a cousin of former Premier Li Keqiang, who allegedly died suddenly from a heart attack at a swimming pool in Shanghai’s Dongjiao State Guesthouse.

Zhu fell from grace on May 4, 2023, and was formally expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from public office on November 7. According to insiders, Zhu was abruptly taken into custody on the afternoon of April 28, a day after conducting field research in Hangzhou’s Binjiang High-Tech Zone.

The CCP’s official announcement accused Zhu of forming cliques, bringing prohibited books into China for private reading, and profiting illicitly from his financial oversight roles. Notably, Zhu was also accused of “criticizing the central government’s major policies and decisions.” Commentators suggest that this may have been the true reason for his arrest.

Zhu Congjiu was nicknamed "Zhu Ten Billion" in local circles, known as one of the wealthiest officials in the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and among Zhejiang Province’s senior officials. His declared assets alone reportedly amounted to several hundred million yuan. His wife, Fang Ruizhi, worked in the high-income private equity sector and previously served as the Chief Inspector at Huaxia Fund. She was also a longtime colleague of Wang Yawei, the founder of Shenzhen Qianhe Capital and a former top figure in China’s mutual fund industry. Industry insiders have speculated that Zhu’s substantial wealth, despite being a government official, raises questions about potential ties between his wife’s career and the financial sectors he oversaw.

Reports indicate that during Zhu’s tenure at the Shanghai Stock Exchange, he invested in multiple properties in Shanghai, with a combined market value exceeding 100 million yuan. Insiders revealed that during Zhu’s investigation, both Fang Ruizhi and Wang Yawei were also taken in for questioning.

Zhu Congjiu's sentencing brings to mind the recent trial (on November 14) of Zhang Hongli, the former Vice President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), in Hangzhou, Zhejiang. According to official CCP reports, Zhang was retroactively investigated for over a decade and found to have illegally accepted bribes totaling 177 million yuan.

Zhang, now 59, had a long career in the financial sector. Early on, he worked as a manager in the Chinese investment banking division of Schroders International Merchant Bank and later served as Goldman Sachs’ Chief Representative in China. After 2001, he became the Asia-Pacific President of Deutsche Bank's investment banking division and Chairman of Deutsche Bank (China) Limited. In 2010, Zhang took on the role of Vice President at ICBC, overseeing overseas operations and investment banking.

While Zhu Congjiu's arrest might carry some political overtones, Zhang Hongli appears to lack political ambitions or influential connections. His arrest seems more likely motivated by his status as a "financial tiger," with his embezzled wealth potentially serving to replenish the CCP’s "party coffers."

In recent years, the CCP has intensified its crackdown on high-ranking officials in the financial sector, with the number of investigations steadily increasing. Analysts believe that most of these officials lack political ambitions and are instead targeted due to hoarding excessive wealth. Xi Jinping’s control over the CCP’s financial power remains tenuous, and efforts to seize financial resources from the sector are ongoing. Commentator Wang He remarked that the CCP has been conducting financial anti-corruption campaigns for some time and is well aware of the financial connections of influential officials with powerful backgrounds. Unlike Zhu Congjiu, Zhang Hongli was more of a "proxy" figure, now being scapegoated. "However, in cases like Li Keqiang’s, where the relatives of someone who might have offended the core leadership are implicated, the CCP seizes any opportunity to make an example of them."

Regardless of whether it is Zhu Congjiu or Zhang Hongli, these "financial tigers" have been found guilty of embezzling billions in public funds, which the CCP then confiscates. Over the past decade, the CCP has reaped astronomical sums through its anti-corruption campaigns, and it has clearly found this approach lucrative.

This year, at least 50 ministerial-level "tigers" have been dealt with, mostly for corruption and bribery. However, the CCP has not disclosed the amounts of money involved.

A significant portion of societal wealth is concentrated in the hands of high-ranking officials. While it is known that many "financial tigers" and "flies" have been investigated, the CCP has not released detailed information about these cases.

The CCP’s anti-corruption efforts appear to have shifted from political motives to economic ones.

The public sees the rampant corruption within China’s financial system as a result of collusion and nepotism among CCP officials, a problem that seems endless. The financial sector is only a small corner of the broader bureaucratic system, where corrupt officials are not the worst—they can always get worse.