Finance, a new target in the Chinese anti-corruption fight

Fan Bao, co-founder of China Renaissance, in October 2016 (Illustration image).

The Chinese entrepreneur has been missing for more than a week.

© Mike Blake / Reuters

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The financial sector is in the crosshairs of the Chinese authorities.

The main anti-corruption agency said Thursday, February 23, determined to clean up the financial sector.

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With our correspondent in Beijing,

Stéphane Lagarde

A banker who disappears and the whole financial sector trembles.

The sudden fainting of Bao Fan, the founder of the investment bank China Renaissance since Thursday February 16, was obviously only a warning.

In a statement released Thursday, the party's Central Commission for Discipline Control (CCCD) promises to crack down.

The institution undertakes to “

 severely punish

 ” “ 

corrupt elements

 ” in banks, public companies or food purchasing centres.

"

 We must resolutely investigate and fight corruption where political and economic issues intertwine, prevent leaders from becoming spokespersons or operatives for lobby groups or powerful groups, and resolutely prevent business collusion,"

 says the text quoted by Reuters.

Party executives in banks and state companies are now at the heart of the fight against corruption initiated by the Chinese president when he came to power.

Like the inquisition for Catholics in the past, the very powerful central discipline control commission has extra-judicial powers.

At the end of January, after its second plenary session, the CCCD had to submit a report to the Head of State explaining the strategies it intended to adopt in the face of these new targets, namely finance and real estate

.

► Also to listen: Asia Frequency - Money, power, corruption in China, the confessions of Desmond Shum: "In their eyes, I am a traitor"

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