The Chinese authorities have been making high-profile announcements regarding the case of Li Chuanliang, former vice mayor of Jixi City, who is accused of embezzling 31 billion yuan and fleeing abroad. Recently, they have been holding consecutive “pre-trial meetings,” which have been criticized for attempting to handle the case behind closed doors. Li Chuanliang, who is in exile overseas along with his legal team, insists that this case is politically motivated, alleging that the authorities are depriving him of his right to a fair defense with the intention to fabricate charges against him. Legal analysts on the mainland reveal that this case is far from a simple anti-corruption matter; it represents the deep-rooted fear of the Communist Party of China (CPC) towards the collaborative anti-communist trend among exiled officials and overseas dissidents.
The official CPC publication, “The Court News,” in October 2024, detailed Li Chuanliang’s alleged corrupt behaviors during his tenure in Jixi City, involving a sum of 31 billion yuan. It emphasized his escape in November 2018 and suspicions of multiple criminal offenses. The high-profile media coverage by official outlets aims to paint him as a typical case of corrupt officials fleeing abroad.
From July 24th to 26th, the Mudanjiang Court held six successive “pre-trial meetings” for Li Chuanliang in the so-called “illegal gains confiscation case.” Li Chuanliang, who is currently in the United States, revealed on the social media platform X that each proceeding was conducted unlawfully: not providing case files, obstructing lawyers from reviewing the records, pushing procedures forcibly, denying the right to defense, prohibiting cross-examination, refusing recusal, and preventing public access.
On July 30th, in an interview with Epoch Times, Li Chuanliang reiterated that this case is a “miscarriage of justice,” stemming from his longstanding whistleblowing on systemic corruption which led to retaliation, suggesting that the court is stripping him of his defense rights and attempting to conduct a secret trial.
The five mainland Chinese lawyers, including Bao Longjun, Jiang Tianyong, Jilaisong, Zhao, and Zhang, whom he has engaged, have faced obstacles imposed by the authorities or have been stripped of their power of attorney. Li Chuanliang questions the legitimacy of the court’s closed-door trial and exposes the court’s fabrication of evidence.
Li Chuanliang further disclosed that there are complex power manipulations behind the jurisdictional assignment of the Mudanjiang Court in handling this case, with the involvement of trusted associates of Xu Zhaojun, the former secretary of the Mudanjiang City Committee whom he previously reported for corruption. It was his exposés of corrupt behaviors among several high-ranking officials that triggered this “retaliatory” judicial action.
Previously, Li Chuanliang’s relatives issued an urgent appeal letter on July 26th, explicitly pointing out multiple procedural violations during the pre-trial meetings conducted by the Mudanjiang Intermediate Court concerning the “illegal gains confiscation” case against Li Chuanliang.
The appeal letter, issued by Li Chuanliang’s mother, Shen Shuzi, primarily accuses the court of refusing to deliver the application for confiscating illegal gains and denying the lawyers access to review the complete case files, hindering the family’s adequate preparation and raising significant doubts on the judicial impartiality.
The letter emphasized that according to relevant legal provisions, the court should have delivered the application for confiscating illegal gains to immediate family members and legal representatives in advance, along with presenting evidence of Li Chuanliang’s criminal wrongdoings.
However, until the conclusion of the pre-trial meetings, the Mudanjiang Intermediate Court had failed to provide the application and didn’t allow the lawyers to review the evidence of Li Chuanliang’s alleged crimes, severely violating the litigation participation rights and opinion expression rights of both family members and legal representatives.
Furthermore, the court restricted the lawyers from inspecting and copying the entire case files and only supplied the financial records pertaining to objections, rendering the evidence of Li Chuanliang’s criminal charges and the complete properties subjected to confiscation as illegal gains unattainable for scrutiny.
The court unexpectedly decided to adopt separate trials during the pre-trial meetings, convening individual sessions for immediate family members and stakeholders, a move criticized for the purpose of “diluting the trial process,” deemed highly inappropriate and a waste of judicial resources.
Since 2020, Li Chuanliang’s family members in China have been arrested, and their assets unlawfully seized. He believes that the authorities intend to exert political pressure through judicial means and prevent him from speaking out in the international community.
Li Chuanliang mentioned being seen as the “number one anti-Communist insider” within the system, following his public criticism of the CCP system after fleeing overseas and giving interviews with overseas independent media outlets such as Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty. He believes that these actions have intensified the suppression by the Chinese authorities.
According to Li Chuanliang, the authorities are not only closely monitoring his family, lawyers, and relevant individuals but have also imposed strict security measures in the vicinity of the Mudanjiang Court. In his view, this demonstrates the authoritarian fears of the truth being exposed.
Facing continuous persecution, Li Chuanliang declared that he will continue to voice out in the international community, exposing the deep-seated corruption within the CCP system. He pointed out that several entrepreneurs and their relatives have been implicated in his case, with some even paying the ultimate price, highlighting not only the widespread plight of private entrepreneurs in China but also the lawlessness within the CCP’s judiciary and power structure.
Regarding the Li Chuanliang case, mainland Chinese lawyer Lu Ming (pseudonym) informed Epoch Times that Li Chuanliang used to be the director of the Finance Bureau and the deputy mayor in charge of finance in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province. Due to his advocacy for financial compliance, he clashed with Xu Zhaojun, the secretary of the Jixi City Committee, violating the tacit rules of the officialdom. Despite Xu Zhaojun’s downfall, Li Chuanliang was transferred and eventually resigned in 2014, losing his salary and welfare, plunging into financial difficulties, and later self-financing his cancer treatment and transitioning into business.
He said that during the pandemic in early 2020, Li Chuanliang’s former subordinates were arrested for “baseless criticism against the central government,” prompting him to perceive retaliatory actions, leading him and his wife to escape to the United States. Publicly criticizing the CCP system, he caused the arrests of his family members and business partners in China. Under immense pressure, his family members confessed and received light sentences or probation, and all have been released at present.
Lawyer Lu Ming believes that Li Chuanliang, currently based in the United States, continues to speak out, revealing the corruption within the CCP and the intricacies of factional struggles in the administration, shedding light on the insolvable aspects of the authoritarian regime. This persistence makes him one of the very few exiled officials who steadfastly expose and criticize the CCP.
Li Chuanliang’s defense lawyer Jiang Tianyong provided a profound interpretation of the recent high-profile crackdown on the defense lawyers involved in this case by the authorities. He told Epoch Times that this reflects the authorities’ deep concern over the joint trend of exiled officials and overseas dissenters uniting. This form of collaboration poses a new type of threat to the stability of the CCP’s regime, instilling fear among its ranks.
Citing the case of Wang Ruoqin (Anna Wang), the boss of Guang Media, who, as an internal Political Consultative Conference member and entrepreneur, founded anti-CCP media abroad after fleeing overseas, Lawyer Jiang believes that similar cases vividly demonstrate the increasingly evident trend of collaboration between exiled officials, wealthy individuals, and overseas dissent forces.