Mainland media reacted to the recent firing of Liu Tienan, a Chinese official found guilty of corruption, by publicizing a deluge of details about the 59-year-old on Friday.
Liu, the former deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission that oversees the Chinese economy, possessed $17.45 million in 25 different bank accounts, 25 rare diamonds, and almost 20 pounds of gold, media said on July 9, in reports that resurfaced after Liu’s termination.
China’s Ministry of Supervision deemed Liu “morally degenerate” in a press release on Aug. 8, saying, Liu “took advantage of his position to seek profits for others, and both Liu and his family accepted a huge amount of bribes.”
Liu was also reported to have eight mistresses from Beijing, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Shandong, and Jiangsu Province, according to the state-run Hong Kong Commercial Daily. His household in Qingdao, Shandong Province had over 330 adult films.
Liu’s case is unusual because allegations were first leveled against him by well-known Chinese journalist Luo Changping, a deputy editor-in-chief of state-run Caijing magazine, on his microblog in December.
The reporter accused Liu of having shady ties with a businessman and being involved in problematic bank loans.
Then in May, authorities launched an investigation into Liu’s activities as part of the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s crackdown on rampant graft.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party’s internal anticorruption agency, said in a statement that it would confiscate Liu’s “unlawful gains” and hand his case over to prosecutors.
In an unsigned editorial, the Global Times claimed “Liu’s fall was inevitable. Even if his scandal was not exposed online eight months ago, he would have faced his fate sooner or later.”
Chinese netizens joined in on calculations of Liu’s property on Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. The gold pounds are estimated to be worth $378,967 (2.32 million yuan) and the diamonds are valued at $124,797,872 (764 million yuan).
“Liu’s total property is worth over 800 million yuan ($130 million). He'd need to work for 8,529 years without eating or drinking to earn that much,” Chinese blogger Laoxushiping, who has over 335,000 followers on Weibo, commented. “800 million yuan ($130 million) could support 3.78 billion people in poverty.”
Other netizens expressed their dislike of corrupt officials.
“Netizens believe that it’s way more important to fight corrupt officials than for the Diaoyu Islands,” said another netizen, “If the government asked me to join the army, I‘d ask them, ’Are all corrupt officials dead? If not, I definitely won’t shed my blood for corrupt officials and their children living on the lap of luxury.'”
A Beijing netizen wrote “There isn’t a most corrupt official, just more and more corrupt officials!”
Epoch Times staff member Lu Chen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
