First senior official in Tibet held on corruption charges

A top legislator in the Tibet autonomous region has been held by the country's anti-graft watchdog on corruption charges. He is the first senior official to be investigated in the region since the nationwide campaign against corruption began in late 2012.

Le Dake, 55, deputy director of the people's congress in the region, is being investigated for alleged "serious violations of discipline and law", the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on Friday.

Le, from Jiangxi province, spent most of his career in political and legal affairs departments in the province from 1976 to 2004 before he was appointed as chief of Tibet's State security department.

He became the deputy director of the people's congress in the region in January 2013.

Two days before Le was taken away by the anti-graft watchdog, he was performing his duties in the city of Linzhi, according to a report in the Tibet Daily newspaper.

The paper said he had a discussion on Wednesday with people in the city about a draft law for the prevention of juvenile delinquency.

Le is among 15 officials at or above ministerial level held on corruption charges since the beginning of this year, China News Service reported.

No officials at or above ministerial level have been charged with alleged corruption in Jilin province, the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Beijing or Shanghai since late 2012, when the country launched its campaign to clean up government.

A plenary meeting among senior officials was held in the region on Friday and was presided over by the region's Party chief, Chen Quanguo.

According to a statement issued by the region's authority, officials in the meeting expressed their support for the decision to investigate Le.

They agreed at the meeting that Tibet should not be immune from investigation by disciplinary bodies, and they expressed their willingness to exercise zero tolerance toward misbehavior by Party officials.

Officials expressed their determination to clamp down on corruption and also reiterated their resolution to fight against separatism in the region, the statement said.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn