On December 8, the Discipline Inspection Commission of Guangdong Province announced that Li Yuquan, the former mayor of Dongguan City, was expelled from the Communist Party of China on suspicion of abusing power for personal gain and accepting bribes.
There have been a series of corrupt officials investigated in Dongguan City recently. Just on November 15, Wu Daowen, who had been a long-time “old subordinate” of Li Yuquan in Dongguan, was also under investigation.
Starting from April 2004, Wu Daowen had served as the deputy mayor of Dongguan for nearly 10 years, and he was once Li Yuquan’s “old subordinate” in Dongguan for many years.
Li Yuquan was accused of illegally accepting gifts, seeking personal gain and receiving property in cadre selection and appointment work, unlawfully giving gifts, engaging in profit-making activities, using his power for personal gain on a large scale, taking advantage of his position to benefit others in land approvals, job promotions, and illegally accepting huge sums of money. Li Yuquan’s actions constituted serious violations of duty and he is suspected of bribery crimes. The case has been transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution.
Records show that Li Yuquan, born in October 1953 in Chang’an, Dongguan, had held various positions such as member of the Dongguan Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Mayor in charge of municipal affairs, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group, Director of the Huomen Port Development Zone Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, President of the Municipal Party School, and Chairman of the Municipal Political Consultative Conference.
By August this year, Li Yuquan, who had retired and was over 70 years old, was under investigation.
According to Red Star News, when Li Yuquan began serving as the mayor of Dongguan in April 2006, the Secretary of the Dongguan Municipal Party Committee at that time was Liu Zhigeng, who held the position of “top leader” in Dongguan until November 2011, working alongside Li Yuquan for more than 5 years. Li Yuquan took over the position of mayor of Dongguan from Liu Zhigeng.
In February 2016, Liu Zhigeng, who had become the Deputy Governor of Guangdong Province, was investigated. On May 31, 2017, Liu Zhigeng was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery. Liu Zhigeng directly or through specific relationships illegally accepted property totaling over 98 million yuan from relevant units and individuals.