China’s corruption busters shame city boss for wasting US$21 billion on vanity projects that failed and ran up heavy debts

The case of a former Guizhou official who left a city at risk of default for spending large sums in the hope of impressing his bosses featured on prime-time TV

The programme suggests that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country’s graft watchdog, will target the misuse of public funds this year

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Former Guizhou official Li Zaiyong confessed to misusing public funds in a documentary broadcast on state TV. Photo: CCTV

Published: 7:35pm, 8 Jan 2024Updated: 7:52pm, 8 Jan 2024

China’s top anti-corruption agency has publicly shamed a former city boss for racking up high debts in pursuit of vanity projects – a sign that the country’s graft-busters have turned their sights on irresponsible government spending.

The case of Li Zaiyong, 61, the former Communist Party secretary of Guiyang, the capital of the southern province of Guizhou, featured in a prime-time documentary on the state broadcaster CCTV.

The programme, which aired on Sunday night, was the second in a three-part anti-corruption series and featured Li’s confession in which he admitted to running up debts of 150 billion yuan (US$21 billion) in just four years while in charge of another city in the province, leaving the local authority at serious risk of default.

He was placed under investigation in March 2023 and stripped of his party membership and official positions in November 2023 by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top corruption agency.

The commission, the country’s top anti-corruption body, attacked him for “showing off” with overambitious projects that wasted public money and caused severe environmental damage, as well as running up debts that breached regulations and raised the default risk.

The party enforcement agency has made it a new priority to stop officials wasting money on vanity projects, adding that to the list of punishable offences in a revised disciplinary code released last month.