Chinese police chief who let off drink-driving son charged with corruption
The former police chief of a major city in northern China has been charged with corruption after being sacked for allowing his drink-driving son, who attacked a policeman, to be set free, state media reported
Li Yali was the top police officer of Taiyuan – a city in Shanxi province, about 500km southwest of Beijing – until last year, when footage of his son’s drunken violence went viral on the internet.
His son, Li Zhengyuan, was stopped on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in October 2012.
Li Zhengyuan, who was found to be drunk at the wheel of his car, then attacked one of the police officers, who then walked him home instead of arresting him, state media said.
A Communist Party investigation found Li Yali had abused his power while handling his son’s case.
He has now been arrested and charged with accepting bribes, Xinhua, the state news agency, reported.
It gave no other details of the charges facing Li, who could not be contacted for comment.
Abuse of power, particularly by officials covering up the crimes of family members, strikes a particularly raw nerve in China owing to widespread concern about how widespread the problem is in a country with little concept of the rule of law.
President Xi Jinping has vowed to go after the corrupt and improve the legal system as he tries to restore faith in the ruling Communist Party after a series of cases involving high-profile corruption and abuse of power that have angered the public.
This month the government announced the arrest of former public security chief Zhou Yongkang, one of China’s most powerful politicians of the past decade.
He has been accused of leaking state secrets as well as accepting bribes and the case is now in the hands of prosecutors.
