After falling from grace six months ago, former Tianjin Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and Organization Department Minister Zhou Derui of the Chinese Communist Party has been expelled from the party and public office, and is being transferred to the judicial system. He is a former subordinate of the current Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Li Hongzhong.
According to the announcement by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China on September 4th, Zhou Derui was found guilty of “disregarding the Party Central Committee”, having a distorted view of achievements, blindly promoting projects, and engaging in superstitious activities. He accepted banquets that could affect the impartial execution of official duties, violated regulations by hosting birthday banquets, did not truthfully report relevant personal matters, sought benefits for others in cadre selection and appointment work, illegally received gifts and money, engaged in power-for-sex and money-for-sex transactions, interfered with and intervened in disciplinary and law enforcement activities, greedily misused public power as a tool for private gain, engaged in power and money transactions on a large scale, and used his official position to benefit others in business operations, project contracting, etc., and illegally accepted huge amounts of money.
The announcement stated that Zhou Derui has been expelled from the party, removed from public office, his qualifications as a representative of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the 12th Party Congress of Tianjin have been terminated, and he has been transferred to the judicial system.
Earlier on March 13th, the official Chinese media, CCTV, reported that Zhou Derui was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” and was under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervision Commission.
Public records show that Zhou Derui was born in February 1966 in Qidong, Hengyang, Hunan. He had worked in Hunan for a long time, serving as a Standing Committee member of the Yongzhou Municipal Committee of Hunan, Minister of the Organization Department, Standing Committee member and Executive Deputy Mayor of the city, Deputy Secretary of the Changde Municipal Committee, Mayor of Changde, Secretary of the Changde Municipal Committee, and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Changde Municipal People’s Congress.
After working in Hunan for 31 years, on March 15, 2021, Zhou Derui was appointed Deputy Mayor of Tianjin across provinces, and became a member of the Municipal Party Committee in September of the same year. He later served as a Standing Committee member of the Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department, and then as a Standing Committee member of the Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department.
Zhou Derui, a former subordinate of the current Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Li Hongzhong, saw his career soar during Li Hongzhong’s leadership in Tianjin.
Of note is that earlier this year, Li Hongwei, former Deputy Minister of the Tianjin Municipal Party Committee Organization Department and former Director of the Municipal Civil Servants Bureau, who fell from grace, was officially announced to have been expelled from the party and transferred to the judicial system on July 5th. Li Hongwei, born in March 1970 in Zhucheng, Shandong, joined the Communist Party of China in December 1992 and started working in July 1994.