Economic Observer Online
Feb 14, 2012
By Chen Zhe (陈哲)
Translated by Pang Lei
Original Article: [Chinese]

Three high-level officials involved in managing land in China's largest city have been removed from their positions in the past five years, with the latest casualty being Hu Jun (胡俊), who until recently was deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources (上海市规划和国土资源管理局).

The EO has learned that the deputy head of the office in charge of land management at the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources (上海市规划和国土资源管理局分管土地的副局长) Hu Jun is under investigation by the Communist Party's Discipline Inspection Commission.

The EO was told that Hu Jun's alleged crimes were not committed during his tenure at the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources but are probably related to actions that took place when he was head of the Planning Bureau in Shanghai's Jing'an District (静安区规划局局长).

Hu Jun's details have already been removed from the list of leading officials that appears on the website of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Planning and Land Resources.

In June 2011, the former vice director of the Municipal Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau (上海市住房保障和房屋管理局副局长), Tao Xiaoxing (陶校兴) was sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes of over 10 million yuan.

In August 2008, Yin Guoyuan (殷国元), who served in a similar position, was sentenced to death, with a 2-year reprieve, for among other crimes, accepting bribes and large amounts of property from unidentified sources.