Former vice chairman of the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference, Duan Chenggang, was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, accused of accepting bribes exceeding 144 million yuan. He was investigated at the end of March 2025 while in office.
On July 28, the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Guangdong Province publicly announced the first-instance judgment, sentencing Duan Chenggang, former member of the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman, to life imprisonment for accepting bribes, depriving him of political rights for life, and confiscating all his personal property.
The court stated that from the second half of 2003 to the end of March 2025, Duan Chenggang used his positions as a member of the Jiangbei District Committee and deputy district head, deputy secretary and district head of the Banan District Committee, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and director of the Management Committee of the Chongqing North New Area, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, deputy secretary of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing, and secretary of the Yubei District Committee to provide assistance in business operations, project advancement, and engineering contracting to related units and individuals, receiving a total of more than 144 million yuan in goods.
On March 31, 2025, Duan Chenggang was officially investigated and half a month later, he was dismissed and his membership of the Political Consultative Conference was revoked. In February of this year, the prosecutors filed a public prosecution; on April 23, the first-instance court publicly held a hearing on the case.
Publicly available information shows that Duan Chenggang was born in June 1963 in Jiangbei, Chongqing, and started work in August 1983, serving for a long time in Chongqing.
In 2006, Duan Chenggang was appointed as the acting district head of the Banan District of Chongqing, later confirmed as the district head, advancing to the rank of department-level cadre.
In January 2014, Duan Chenggang was appointed as the director of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the North New Area in Chongqing, and then appointed as the deputy director of the Party Working Committee and Management Committee of the Liangjiang New Area in Chongqing in February 2016 (at the departmental level). In June of the same year, he was appointed as the secretary of the Yubei District Committee.
In October 2018, Duan Chenggang was promoted to become a member of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, secretary of the Party Working Committee of the Liangjiang New Area, and concurrently served as the director of the Management Committee. In January 2022, he transferred to become the vice chairman of the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference, until he was investigated at the end of March 2025.
A few days before his downfall, Duan Chenggang was still appearing in the media. In an article published on the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference’s WeChat public account on March 24, 2025, it was mentioned that on March 14, Duan Chenggang participated in a work promotion meeting for the construction of the platform carrier in the performance area of the municipal political consultative conference and delivered a speech. According to Chongqing TV news footage, there was no footage of Duan Chenggang at the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth Session of the Chongqing Political Consultative Conference held on March 27.