Former Deputy Director of the China National Tobacco Monopoly Administration, Zhang Tianfeng, was announced to be under investigation today (17th), making him the first top official to be investigated by the Communist Party in 2025. In recent years, high-ranking officials within the tobacco system have frequently fallen from grace, accused of engaging in widespread bribery and corrupt practices.
According to an announcement on the website of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission, Zhang Tianfeng, the former Deputy Director of the National Tobacco Monopoly Administration, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently under investigation.
Zhang Tianfeng, holding a vice-ministerial rank, has become the first “tiger” to be investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in 2025.
Public records show that Zhang Tianfeng was born in 1963 and has had a long career in tobacco-related departments in Shaanxi province. In 2017, he became the Director of the Personnel Department at the National Tobacco Monopoly Administration at the ministerial level, and was promoted to Deputy Director at the vice-ministerial level in 2020, retiring in June 2023 upon reaching the retirement age.
Since 2021, corruption scandals in the Chinese tobacco industry have been exposed, including the former Director of the National Tobacco Monopoly Administration and the former General Manager of China Tobacco Corporation, Ling Chengxing, as well as high-ranking officials like He Zehua, Xu Ye from the National Tobacco Administration, and Pan Jiahua from the disciplinary inspection team, who have all been brought down. These individuals have been accused of engaging in bribery and accepting substantial illegal benefits. Ling Chengxing, for example, was indicted yesterday (January 16, 2025) on charges of accepting bribes and abusing his power as a state-owned enterprise employee. He is alleged to have received bribes amounting to over 43.11 million yuan between 2006 and 2023.