On November 19, 2025, former vice-provincial official of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Hong Lihe, who fell from grace, was recently reported to be involved in a rare money laundering case.
According to the CCP’s Xinhua News Agency on November 19, Hong Lihe, former deputy secretary and vice chairman of the Party Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Congress, is suspected of bribery and abuse of power, and has been transferred to the procuratorial authorities for review and prosecution. The Supreme People’s Procuratorate of the CCP made an arrest decision against Hong Lihe on charges of bribery and abuse of power, and designated the Fuzhou City Procuratorate of Fujian Province to review and prosecute the case. In addition, Hong Lihe’s money laundering case is being handled together.
The prosecution accuses Hong Lihe of using his positions as mayor and party secretary of Xinyu City in Jiangxi Province, secretary and director of the Party Group of Jiangxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, member and deputy governor of the Jiangxi Provincial government, and deputy secretary and vice chairman of the Party Group of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Congress to seek benefits for others, illegally accepting property from others in an extremely large amount; engaging in favoritism, malfeasance, and abuse of power.
Public records show that Hong Lihe, born in November 1953 in Yugan, Jiangxi, previously served as director of the General Office of the Jiangxi Provincial Government, party secretary of Xinyu City, director of the Jiangxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission, deputy governor of Jiangxi Province, and vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Congress, stepping down in 2017. On June 19, 2024, Hong Lihe was placed under investigation.
On June 6, 2024, it was officially announced that Hong Lihe was expelled from the CCP. The announcement stated that he had “long been engaged in cliques within the Party, formed cliques, and inappropriately discussed major Party policies of the Central Committee, privately read books with serious political issues.” Commentator Li Yanming had previously stated that Hong Lihe’s downfall was part of the authorities’ cleansing operation against the Jiangxi faction of former CCP Vice Chairman Zeng Qinghong.
It is worth noting that the money laundering charge against Hong Lihe is relatively rare in corruption cases involving high-ranking CCP officials. In September 2023, the authorities issued a document urging to “strengthen cooperation in combating money laundering” in handling corruption cases. Since then, this charge appeared more as an additional accusation in cases of bribery, abuse of power, but was more common among officials at the bureau level and below, with the names of the officials involved rarely disclosed by the authorities.
A search of public information by the reporters of Da Ji Yuan only revealed that in early 2024, Zhang Dongxiang, former party secretary and president of the Jiangxi branch of the Bank of China (at the departmental level), was explicitly accused of bribery and money laundering.
In recent years, China’s political and economic situation has been unstable, with domestic funds fleeing through various means. Chinese expert Wang He had previously stated that not only the second-generation reds (offspring of former high-ranking officials), but also some other tycoons, princelings, middle class, and vested interest groups are transferring funds overseas.
Recently, the Prince Group in Cambodia had its assets seized by countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States due to involvement in crimes such as fraud, with its founder Chen Zhi being exposed to have ties with senior CCP officials, including Xi Jinping. Canadian writer Sheng Xue disclosed that “Chen Zhi is specifically managing wealth and money laundering for the Fujian faction of the CCP and Xi Jinping’s family.”