(TibetanReview.net, Oct31, 2015) – In a rare instance of an official in Chinese ruled Tibet being punished for abuse of power for personal gains, a former deputy head of the regional legislature with previous background as regional and provincial security head has been expelled from the party and will be prosecuted for corruption. Le Dake has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office following an internal graft investigation, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Oct 30.
The report cited a statement issued on Oct 30 by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) as saying Le, an ethnic Chinese, was found to have taken advantage of his post to seek profits for others in business operations and accepted bribes. He became the subject of an investigation in June. His case would be handed over to the legal authorities, it said, meaning he will be prosecuted.
In China the sole ruling party is above the constitution and its members cannot be prosecuted under the country’s criminal justice system unless permitted by the party.
Le was former deputy head of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) People’s Congress. Before that, he was the head of the State Security Department in TAR from 2004 to 2013. His posting preceding that was as deputy chief of the provincial spy agency for four years in Jiangxi, where he was born and began his police career in 1980, noted a Reuters report carried by scmp.com Oct 30.
The report noted that China’s state media had said in January that anti-graft authorities had punished 15 senior party officials in Tibet after they were found guilty of corruption last year.
Earlier, on Oct 17, Xinhua reported that Ngoga, deputy head of the TAR’s Administration of Work Safety, had been removed from his post for “serious discipline violations”.
Citing the regional discipline inspection commission, the report said the former deputy commissioner of Nagqu (Tibetan: Nagchu) Prefectural Administrative Office, had accepted bribes and committed adultery. It added that his case had been passed to the judiciary.