Former deputy secretary of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Party Committee and former secretary of the Yinchuan Municipal Party Committee, Jiang Zhigang, was recently brought to trial for allegations of bribery spanning 20 years. Prior to his downfall, Jiang Zhigang had disappeared for two years and was formerly a key member of the Jiang faction led by the old associate of Zeng Qinghong.
On June 20, the bribery case of Jiang Zhigang was heard in court. He was accused of using his position and power between 2003 and 2023 to seek personal gain for relevant units and individuals, illegally accepting property from others amounting to over 79.98 million Chinese yuan.
Jiang Zhigang pleaded guilty in court. The case will be sentenced at a later date.
At the age of 64, Jiang Zhigang, a native of Donghai, Jiangsu Province, had served in military-industrial enterprises, the Central Organization Department, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Organization Department. He held the position of Deputy Secretary of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Party Committee and Secretary of the Yinchuan Municipal Party Committee in 2017, before being transferred in January 2021.
On January 26, 2021, the Standing Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region People’s Congress announced that Jiang Zhigang, a delegate to the 12th People’s Congress of Yinchuan, had been relocated, resulting in the termination of his delegate qualification. Subsequently, he vanished from public reports until his downfall in March 2023. After being “missing” for over two years, Jiang Zhigang reappeared in the public eye due to the investigation.
In August 2023, Jiang Zhigang was investigated and arrested in September. The notice of investigation stated that Jiang Zhigang had misused public funds to build grandiose buildings, engaged in corrupt practices for personal gain, accepted large sums of money, used his authority to help himself and his relatives purchase properties at low prices, and assisted his relatives in investing in private enterprises.
In October of the same year that Jiang Zhigang left Ningxia, the General Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China issued a notice regarding the irregular construction of grandiose buildings in heavily indebted areas. The notice mentioned Ningxia where grandiose buildings, including the Ningxia Minning Conference Center, the Ningxia Minning Town Hotel Management and Service Vocational Skills Training Center, and the Ningxia Silk Road Pearl Tower, were unlawfully built.
Among these, the Ningxia Silk Road Pearl Tower, known as the “tallest tower in the northwest,” was constructed with the support of Yinchuan City, where Jiang Zhigang was in charge. On December 10, 2020, Jiang Zhigang conducted research on the construction of the Silk Road Pearl Tower and the Yinchuan Workers’ Cultural Center.
Additionally, Jiang Zhigang is a former associate of the Jiang faction led by Zeng Qinghong.
In 2001, Jiang Zhigang was transferred from the aerospace system to the Central Organization Department of the Communist Party of China. From April of that year to May 2003, he served as the Deputy Director of the Personnel Department Five Bureau of the Central Organization Department. At that time, Zeng Qinghong was the Minister of the Central Organization Department, and Jiang was one of his subordinates. Zeng Qinghong served as a member of the Central Politburo Standing Committee and Secretary of the Central Secretariat from 1999 to November 2002, as well as the Minister of the Central Organization Department.