Tarriffs contributing to systemic failure in China economy.
-----------------
The head of the Shandong provincial branch of China Development Bank, one of the nation’s three state-owned policy lenders, has committed suicide, amid
an ongoing investigation into illegal acts at another of the bank’s branches where he once served as a high official.
Zhong Xiaolong was discovered in his room with his wrists slit while in Beijing on July 17, Caixin learned from a knowledgeable source. In addition to the slit wrists,
he had also stabbed himself in the chest, the source said. He was taken to a hospital where he died that evening.
Zhong was 54 at the time of his death. He had taken over as head of the bank’s Shandong branch in June 2016 and was selected in 2017 as an influential leader in the
provincial capital of Jinan by a leading local newspaper.
Word of his death started to emerge Friday afternoon, and Caixin confirmed the matter through numerous written documents. His suicide marked the latest
development in a complex web of cases involving officials both in and out of office. China has been aggressively tackling corruption in government agencies and
related institutions in a years-long clampdown initiated by President Xi Jinping.
Zhong’s death comes amid an ongoing investigation at the provincial branch of China Development Bank in Northwest China’s Jilin province. That probe exposed
losses of more than 3 billion yuan ($436 million) at the branch tied to illegal loan guarantees made by the institution over many years. Zhong was a former
deputy head of the branch.
[
link to www.caixinglobal.com (secure)]
----------------------
More to come no doubt.
.
United States
