COVID-era Wuhan party boss under investigation, says China's anti-graft watchdog

Beijing: Wang Zhonglin, the former party chief of the central Chinese province of Hubei and its capital, Wuhan, is under investigation for "suspected serious violations of discipline and law" - a common euphemism for corruption - China's anti-graft watchdog said in a statement on Friday.

Wang, 64, was thrust into the spotlight in February 2020 during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was appointed top official of Wuhan. He replaced Ma Guoqiang, who was removed from the post amid criticism of the city's initial handling of the outbreak.

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Wang, also a member of the party's elite Central Committee, was promoted to governor of Hubei in 2021 and then in 2024 to its Communist Party chief, the province's highest-ranking official.

He was moved out of a frontline political role earlier this year after being named to a senior post in the country's largely rubber-stamp ​parliament.

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A number of senior officials who served in pandemic-era Hubei have been purged.

Former Hubei party chief Jiang Chaoliang received a suspended death sentence for bribery in August. A probe into former governor Wang Xiaodong was launched in May. Zhou Xianwang, Wuhan's former mayor, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in October over corruption.