Former party member and vice chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Duan Chenggang, who is suspected of bribery, has recently been prosecuted by the Guangzhou Municipal Procuratorate in Guangdong Province. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the Communist Party of China has made a decision to arrest Duan Chenggang on suspicion of bribery.
According to the indictment, Duan Chenggang, taking advantage of his positions as a member of the Standing Committee and deputy district head of Jiangbei District, Chongqing, deputy secretary and district head of Banan District Committee, Chongqing, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and director of the Management Committee of the Beibu New Area, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area, secretary of Yubei District Committee of Chongqing, member of the Municipal Committee and concurrently secretary of the Party Working Committee and director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, used his convenience in his duties and powers, as well as the convenience formed by his position to seek benefits for relevant units and individuals through acts in the course of other state functionaries, illegally accepting property from others, with an especially large amount. He should be held criminally responsible for the crime of bribery.
On March 31 of last year, Duan Chenggang was announced to have fallen from grace during his tenure, and half a month later he was dismissed and had his membership of the CPPCC revoked.
Public records show that Duan Chenggang, born in June 1963 in Jiangbei, Chongqing, started working in August 1983 and has served in Chongqing for a long time.
In 2006, Duan Chenggang served as the acting district head of Banan District, Chongqing, and later became the official head, ascending to the status of a regular department-level cadre. In January 2014, he was appointed as the director of the Management Committee of the Party Working Committee in the Beibu New Area, Chongqing Liangjiang New Area, and was specially appointed in February 2016 as the deputy director of the Management Committee of the Party Working Committee in the Liangjiang New Area (department-level), and in June of the same year, he became the secretary of Yubei District Committee.
In October 2018, Duan Chenggang was promoted to become a member of the Municipal Committee of Chongqing, secretary of the Party Working Committee in the Liangjiang New Area, and concurrently director of the Management Committee. In January 2022, he was transferred to serve as the vice chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC until his investigation.
In the days leading up to his fall from grace, Duan Chenggang was still featured in public reports. On March 24 of last year, an article published on the official WeChat account of the Chongqing CPPCC mentioned that on March 14, Duan Chenggang participated in a work progress meeting on the construction of the operational platform of the municipal CPPCC and delivered a speech. According to Chongqing TV news footage, during the 13th Executive Committee meeting of the 6th Chongqing CPPCC held on March 27, there was no longer footage of Duan Chenggang.
The Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing is the third national-level development and opening new area approved by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, following the Shanghai Pudong New Area and the Tianjin Binhai New Area.
It is worth noting that in recent years, three Party Working Committee secretaries in the Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing have been investigated.
In July 2021, Xu Ming, deputy director of the State Administration of Grain, was investigated. Xu Ming served as secretary of the Party Working Committee and director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area from December 2011 until returning to Beijing as deputy director of the State Administration of Grain in 2013. In June 2023, Xu Ming was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
In December 2024, Wu Cunrong, former chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, was investigated. Wu Cunrong was transferred to serve as the deputy mayor of Chongqing in 2017, and later briefly served as the secretary of the Party Working Committee in the Liangjiang New Area. At that time, Duan Chenggang took over as the secretary of the Party Working Committee in the Liangjiang New Area.