Former director of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, Ling Chengxing, has recently been charged with corruption and abuse of power by the prosecutor’s office.
According to a statement from the Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the CCP on November 25th, the investigation into Ling Chengxing, former member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, former Party Secretary and director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, and former general manager of China National Tobacco Corporation, on suspicion of bribery and abuse of power by state-owned company personnel, has concluded. Upon designation by the procuratorate, the case has been reviewed for prosecution by the Changchun Municipal People’s Procuratorate in Jilin Province. Recently, the prosecutor has filed a lawsuit against Ling Chengxing with the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court in Jilin Province.
The prosecutor’s indictment alleges that Ling Chengxing, by taking advantage of his positions as a Standing Committee member of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Governor of the province, director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, and general manager of China National Tobacco Corporation, used his authority to seek benefits for others, illegally accepted property from others in an extremely large amount, engaged in favoritism and abuse of power, causing serious losses to state-owned companies and significant damage to national interests. He should be held criminally responsible for the crimes of bribery and abuse of power by state-owned company personnel.
Ling Chengxing was ousted in October 2023, expelled from the party in April this year, had his benefits revoked, and was sent for judicial proceedings in May.
Public records show that Ling Chengxing, born in October 1957 in Shanggao, Jiangxi, started working in December 1980 and served for a long time in Jiangxi, holding positions such as Mayor of Fengcheng City, Deputy Director of the Jiangxi Provincial Economic Commission, director/manager of the Jiangxi Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Administration (Company), and assistant to the Governor of Jiangxi Province.
In late December 2001, Ling Chengxing was promoted to the vice-ministerial level, serving as the Deputy Governor of Jiangxi Province, a member of the provincial government’s Party Committee, and also held the post of Director of the provincial State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. In December 2006, Ling Chengxing became a Standing Committee member of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee and the Deputy Governor in charge.
In 2013, Ling Chengxing was transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as a member of the Party Committee, Party Secretary and director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, the “steward” of China’s tobacco industry, until stepping down in July 2018.