SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE—The former head of China’s top securities regulator, Liu Shiyu, has been removed from a government position following an investigation by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the watchdog said on Oct. 4.
Liu “severely violated political discipline and political rules,” received gifts and used his power and position to seek personal gains for others, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement.
Liu will remain a member of the Chinese communist party, the watchdog said. Most officials involved in corruption charges are expelled from the Party.
Liu became head of the China Securities Regulatory Commission in 2016 and stepped down in January this year to take up the post of deputy party chief at the All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Cooperatives.
In May this year he was put under investigation on suspicion of violating laws and cooperated with the National Supervisory Commission for that investigation.
But Liu also took some actions that Chinese leader Xi Jinping may not have approved of.
For example, he greatly opened up the exchange markets to private enterprises, approving more than 10 companies to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) every week, which brought risks to the market, according to Caijing.
Caijing used Jiangsu Bank as an example. The Jiangsu Bank had applied for an IPO for six years, but couldn’t get approval due to its bad performance. Liu approved its application in August 2016. The price of Jiangsu Bank’s shares decreased continuously since the second week after its IPO. It finally reached zero in 2018.
Liu also approved IPOs for five other small banks from Jiangsu Province, which is also his hometown.
Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, a sweeping anti-corruption campaign has felled hundreds of thousands of misbehaving officials, usually caught on graft crimes.
