In the period from January to April this year, 12 bureau-level cadres in the energy sector of the Chinese Communist Party have been investigated. On May 14th, Tong Yahui, the former Party Secretary and Chairman of Zhejiang Energy Group, voluntarily surrendered to the authorities on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and laws, and is currently under investigation.
Public records show that Tong Yahui, born in 1960 in Ninghai, Zhejiang, graduated from the Economics Department of Hangzhou University in 1982. He has been working in the energy sector for a long time, holding various positions such as Deputy Director of the Transportation Department of the Transport Bureau of the former Ministry of Coal Industry of China, Deputy Director of the Transportation Department, Manager of the Development Department, Deputy Chief Economist, and Director of the Office of China Coal Sales and Transportation General Company.
In 2001, Tong Yahui returned to Zhejiang and participated in the establishment of Zhejiang Energy Group. He later served as General Manager, Vice Chairman of the Energy Group, Chairman of Zhejiang Province Marine Development Investment Group, and Chairman of Zhe Energy Group until the end of 2020. In 2021, he was appointed as the Director of the Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Zhejiang Energy Group Co., Ltd. was established in 2001 with the approval of the Zhejiang Provincial Government. It is a large state-owned energy enterprise based on the assets of the former Zhejiang Power Development Company and Zhejiang Coal Group Company, headquartered in Hangzhou. Its main businesses include power construction, electricity and heat production, petroleum, coal and natural gas development, trade and circulation, energy services, and energy finance.
By the end of 2011, Zhe Energy Group had 151 affiliated companies, including 55 wholly-owned or controlled companies and 25 power generation companies. The controlled Zhejiang Southeast Power Generation Co., Ltd. is a B-share listed company. It also owns four A-share listed companies: Zhejiang Energy Power, Ningbo Maritime, Zhejiang Xineng, Zhonglai Group, and the Singapore-listed company Jinjiang Environment.
In April this year, the 16th Central Inspection Team of the Chinese Communist Party entered Zhejiang focusing on the “top leaders”, scrutinizing their power and responsibilities, and seeking out political trends and loyalty levels. The inspection team is expected to work in Zhejiang for about two and a half months until June 23, 2025.
Since the Central Inspection Team entered Zhejiang, within just a month and a half, a total of 12 individuals, including Tong Yahui, have been under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and laws, with 5 of them voluntarily surrendering. They include:
– On May 9th, Shi Zhendong, former Deputy Secretary-General of Jiaxing Municipal Government, was investigated.
– On May 7th, Shen Languan, former senior county-level official of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Jiaxing City, voluntarily surrendered.
– On May 7th, Feng Jianlong, former Chief Expert of Agricultural Bank of China and former Party Secretary and President of the Zhejiang Branch, voluntarily surrendered.
– On April 30th, Zhou Wucan, Member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Management Committee of Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, voluntarily surrendered.
Tong Yahui has long been working in the energy sector, and corruption in the energy industry, as a lifeline of the national economy, is often related to major project approvals, equipment procurement, resource allocation, and other aspects.
According to statistics, from January to April 2025, the disciplinary and supervisory organs across the country have investigated and prosecuted 79 bureau-level cadres, including 15 from the financial system and 12 from the energy sector.
On May 11th, Guo Jianping, Member of the Party group and Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of Xinzhou Municipal People’s Congress in Shanxi Province, was investigated. Guo Jianping, 58 years old, was a senior official who had been deeply involved in the coal system for 25 years, rising from the captain of a coal exploration team to the director of the energy bureau, wielding considerable power for resource approvals, and becoming a core member of local power through “coal corruption.”
On April 25th, Wei Donghou, former Party Committee Member and Deputy General Manager of Beijing Pipeline Co., Ltd., was investigated. Beijing Pipeline Company, where Wei Donghou served, is responsible for natural gas transportation in North China. Malfeasance can lead to hidden risks in pipeline construction quality and artificially high costs. An incident in 2023 involving a gas pipeline leak in a certain location caused tens of thousands of people to have their gas supply disrupted, with investigations pointing to corruption in the project bidding process that harmed the interests of the common people.
In 2024, two senior executives of China National Energy Administration Group were removed from their positions: Zhang Xinjia, former Deputy General Manager of the construction project management branch (January 24, 2024) and Huang Zejun, former senior technical expert (November 1, 2024).
On April 12th, Jin Xiangjun, Deputy Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Governor, was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and laws. During his tenure, problems in the energy and infrastructure sectors were scrutinized.
On March 19th, Ma Zonglin, former Party Secretary and Director of China Electric Power Construction Corporation, was investigated. Ma Zonglin, 67 years old, retired from China Electric Power Construction in 2016. After that, he served as an external director for several central enterprises. He retired in August 2020, nearly 5 years before the investigation was launched.
Previously, the former Chairman of China Electric Power Construction, Fan Jixiang (January 2024), and the Chief Economist Liu Mingjiang (April 9th), were also investigated. They, along with Ma Zonglin, were all part of the core management of the Electric Power Construction Group.
On February 17th, Chen Pei, former Party Secretary and Chairman of China Coal New Energy Co., Ltd., was investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline and laws.
On February 17th, Zeng Wu, Deputy Director of the Strategic Planning and Development Department of China National Power Investment Group Co., Ltd., was investigated.
On February 14th, Zhang Baojun, Member of the Party committee and Deputy General Manager of State Power Investment Corporation Shanghai Energy Technology Development Co., Ltd., was investigated.
On January 7th, Tang Junhua, former Member of the Party group and Deputy General Manager of Jineng Holding Group Co., Ltd., was arrested.
In 2024, nearly 200 individuals in the mineral energy sector were caught, including Zhong Ziran, former Party Secretary and Director of the China Geological Survey Bureau, Zhu Lijun, former Director of the Guizhou Province Land and Resources Department, Zhang Cai, former Director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Nonferrous Metal Geological Exploration Bureau, Huang Defa, Director of the Guangdong Province Geological Bureau, and Mo Chunluan, former Level 1 Inspector of the Guangdong Geological Bureau, who were successively investigated.