Deputy state security minister Ma Jian probed for graft

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-01-16

Ma Jian. (Internet photo)

Ma Jian, China's spy chief, has been detained in relation to a graft probe against him, which is said to relate to two disgraced high-profile officials that have also been put under graft probes, reports Duowei News, a media outlet run by overseas Chinese.

News of the probe was first broken by British newspaper The Financial Times on Jan. 12. Ma's absence from a Dec. 30 meeting last year between China's minister of public security Guo Shengkun and Kazakhstani prime minister Karim Massimov was reported by the website of Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po as an indication that Ma might have been put under a probe.

A source cited by The Financial Times said the corruption accusations against Ma are likely due to his connections to Zhou Yongkang, the former CPC Politburo Standing Committee member, and his Yunnan clique. The paper also hinted that Ma was detained due to his links to Ling Jihua, the former head of the CPC United Front Work Department. The two were said have been included in a Chinese government probe into tech conglomerate Founder Group.

The deputy security minister has been responsible for an anti-spying campaign over the past decade and he was given credit for his role in two recent high-profile cases, of which two senior officials of the Ministry of State Security were busted for spying for foreign countries. Several members of his families have also been investigated, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post.

However, a person named Tang Chao, has attended a seminar held by the country's Supreme Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate as an assistant of the Ministry of State Security on Jan. 7. Hong Kong newspaper Ta Kung Pao said that this suggests Tang is a member of the ministry's party committee.

Zhou was officially placed under an investigation last year. Ling Jihua was stripped of his title on Dec. 31 last year and is being investigated for suspected serious disciplinary violations.