China arrests former agriculture minister Tang Renjian for corruption
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BEIJING – China has arrested its former agriculture minister and party secretary Tang Renjian for suspected bribery, the nation’s top prosecutor said on Dec 10, the latest official caught up in President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption crackdown.
“Recently, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate made an arrest decision on Tang Renjian on suspicion of taking bribes,” the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said in a statement, adding that the decision was made in accordance with the law.
Tang’s downfall was unusually swift and comes amid Mr Xi’s sweeping anti-graft campaign, which has also targeted former defence minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe.
Tang, 62, was removed from the leadership roster on the ministry’s website in May and expelled from the Communist Party six months later.
State media has reported that he was found to have accepted gifts and money in violation of regulations, using his authority to provide assistance to his relatives’ business activities and interfering in judicial activities.
He was last publicly seen three days before he was investigated while in office, the Beijing Daily reported.
Tang was governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020 before being named minister of agriculture and rural affairs, according to official biographies.
As minister, he was responsible for boosting the nation’s food security policies and had rolled out the use of genetically modified crops and a food security law. REUTERS
