Former Secretary of the Communist Party of China Shanxi Provincial Committee and Chairman Wu Cunrong was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance for the crime of bribery. Wu Cunrong previously served in Chongqing and was a former subordinate of the current Political Bureau member Chen Min’er.
According to official sources from the Communist Party of China, on March 20, Beijing Second Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Wu Cunrong to life imprisonment and confiscated all his personal property for the crime of bribery.
The court pointed out that from 2006 to 2024, Wu Cunrong, taking advantage of his positions as a member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Vice Governor of Anhui Province, member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Mayor of Chongqing, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Deputy Secretary and Deputy Director of the Party Group of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People’s Congress, Secretary of the Party Group of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and Chairman, provided assistance to others in project planning and approval, change of land use, and business operations. He directly or through others illegally accepted money or items totaling more than 127 million yuan.
Public records show that Wu Cunrong, born in May 1963 in Wuhu, Anhui Province, previously served as the Director of the Anhui Provincial Water Resources Department, Mayor of Hefei, Anhui Province, and became a member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Committee and Secretary of the Hefei Municipal Committee in 2011. In 2016, he was promoted to a member of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor. In 2017, Wu Cunrong was transferred to Chongqing and served as a member of the Municipal Committee, Executive Vice Mayor, Vice Secretary of the Municipal Committee in 2021, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress, and Deputy Secretary of the Party Group in 2022.
In January 2023, Wu Cunrong was appointed as the Secretary of the Party Group and Chairman of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and was investigated in office on December 16, 2024.
Chen Min’er, a current member of the Political Bureau and Secretary of the Tianjin Municipal Committee, governed Chongqing for over five years from July 2017 to December 2022. During this time, Wu Cunrong worked closely with Chen Min’er, serving as a member of the Municipal Committee, Executive Vice Mayor, and being promoted to Vice Secretary of the Municipal Committee in January 2021, becoming Chen Min’er’s deputy.