Former Head of China Development Bank Under Investigation for Corruption

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's governmental body responsible for anti-corruption efforts, announced on Sunday that Ouyang Weimin, the former president of the China Development Bank, is under investigation for suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations.

In 2024, a former vice president of the bank was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined for accepting bribes, according to Reuters.

Last Tuesday, the Chinese Communist Party dismissed Ma Xingrui, a senior official, accusing him of corruption and abusing his power to obtain privileges. Ma is the third member to be removed from the Politburo, the country's highest ruling body, amid President Xi Jinping's intensified anti-corruption campaign targeting the top levels of government, as reported by The New York Times.

Ma's removal, who previously served as the party secretary of the Xinjiang region, marks a significant fall from one of the highest ranks of power in China. For many years, he was considered one of the country's most promising political elites, known as an engineer and scientist.

The expulsion of Ma from the Politburo represents the deepest purge of the top political body since Deng Xiaoping established new rules governing modern China in the 1980s. Following the removal of Ma, along with two military officials, He Weidong and Zhang Youxia, the number of Politburo members has decreased to 21.