Former Director of the China Geological Survey Bureau, Zhong Ziran, is suspected of bribery and intentionally leaking state secrets and has recently been prosecuted.
The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of China announced on October 25th the above news. According to the notice, Zhong Ziran is accused of using his position of power and authority to seek benefits for others, illegally accepting a significant amount of money, and intentionally leaking state secrets, resulting in serious charges of bribery and intentional disclosure of state secrets.
At 62 years old, Zhong Ziran, a resident of Tongcheng, Anhui, has had a long career in the Ministry of Natural Resources, where he served as the Director of the Geological Exploration Department, Deputy Director of the China Geological Survey Bureau, and Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Natural Resources.
In 2014, he became a member of the Communist Party’s Committee of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Director of the China Geological Survey Bureau. After the establishment of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Communist Party in 2018, Zhong Ziran continued to hold key positions in the Party Committee of the Ministry, as well as the Director and Party Secretary of the China Geological Survey Bureau.
In September 2022, Zhong Ziran stepped down as the President of the China Geological Academy, and the following month he was relieved of his duties as Director of the China Geological Survey Bureau. In January of this year, Zhong Ziran was officially investigated, becoming the “first tiger” to fall in 2024; he was expelled from the Communist Party in June and arrested in July.
According to reports by Caixin, Zhong Ziran is the first high-ranking official in the Ministry of Natural Resources system to fall from grace in nearly a decade. Eleven years ago, the then Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Tian Fengshan, was investigated and two years later was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery. Former Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Communist Party, Zhou Yongkang, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, also served as Minister of the Ministry of Natural Resources for a year in 1998 and 1999.
It is worth noting that “intentionally leaking state secrets” is a serious charge. Previous announcements by the Communist Party’s discipline inspection departments rarely mentioned “intentional disclosure of state secrets”. Zhou Yongkang, labeled as an “ambitious person” by the authorities, and Ling Jihua, former Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, were charged with crimes related to state secrets, with Zhou Yongkang being convicted of “intentional disclosure of state secrets” and Ling Jihua of “illegally obtaining state secrets”.
According to the Communist Party’s relevant criminal interpretations, state secrets are defined as matters that relate to national security and interests, confirmed by legal procedures, and restricted to a specific group of people for a certain period of time.
Under the Chinese Criminal Law, government officials who intentionally or negligently disclose state secrets can face three years or less in prison or detention, while those with particularly serious circumstances may be sentenced to three to seven years in prison.