On January 2nd, three high-ranking officials of the Chinese Communist Party were simultaneously investigated. One was from Jilin province, and the other two were from Guizhou province. Among them, Ding Xiongjun, an official from Guizhou, was the third former chairman of Maotai Group to fall from grace.
According to official announcements, Jiang Baozhong, a Standing Committee member and Secretary-General of the Changchun Municipal Committee in Jilin province, was announced to be under investigation on January 2nd. Jiang has been working in Changchun for a long time, and earlier this week he participated in research activities organized by the Changchun Municipal Committee.
On the same day, Chen Shaorong, the Deputy Director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Guizhou Provincial People’s Congress, was also placed under investigation. He has held various positions in Guizhou, including Standing Committee member of Liupanshui City, Deputy Mayor of Guiyang, Mayor of Tongren City, and Secretary of the Anshun Municipal Committee. In January 2022, he took on a “sideline position” in the Guizhou Provincial People’s Congress.
Additionally, Ding Xiongjun, the director of the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration, was also announced to be under investigation. Due to the sudden development, Ding’s personal information has not been removed from the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration website even after the investigation announcement.
Public records show that Ding Xiongjun has long been working in Guiyang and has held positions such as Deputy Mayor of Qingzhen City, Secretary-General of the Guiyang City Government, Deputy Secretary-General of the Guizhou Provincial Government, Deputy Mayor of Bijie City, and Director of the Guizhou Provincial Energy Bureau.
In August 2021, Ding Xiongjun was appointed as the Party Secretary and Chairman of the Board of Directors of China’s Guizhou Maotai Distillery (Group) Company Limited, as well as Chairman of Guizhou Maotai Liquor Co., Ltd. In April 2024, Ding was transferred to the Party Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration and Director of the Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Administration. He fell from grace just eight months after taking office.
Ding Xiongjun is the third former chairman of Maotai in Guizhou to be investigated. Previously, both Gao Weidong and Yuan Renguo were investigated one after another, and the amounts of bribery involved exceeded one billion yuan.
According to official reports, Yuan Renguo used the operating rights of Maotai liquor as a tool for building relationships and exchanging benefits, engaged in political connections, and accumulated political capital; he engaged in power-for-money transactions and promoted “family-style corruption.” In 2021, Yuan Renguo was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Since Yuan Renguo was reported for disciplinary violations in 2019, at least 13 executives of Maotai Group and its subsidiaries have been investigated. Among them, Gao Weidong was accused of engaging in power-for-sex transactions, power-for-money transactions, gambling, and multiple counts of patronizing prostitutes. In February 2024, Gao Weidong was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ding Xiongjun took over from Gao Weidong and led Maotai. In 2021, as the Chairman of Maotai Group, Ding Xiongjun emphasized at a Maotai Group warning conference that party members and cadres should “defend the bottom line” and “only by preventing corruption can we go far.” With Ding Xiongjun’s downfall, three former chairmen of Maotai Group have now been investigated.