[Exclusive] China's Energy Minister Bekri Faces Corruption Probe
Lin Chunting
DATE:  Sep 26 2018
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
[Exclusive] China's Energy Minister Bekri Faces Corruption Probe [Exclusive] China's Energy Minister Bekri Faces Corruption Probe

(Yicai Global) Sept. 26 -- The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission have put Nur Bekri, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission and director of the National Energy Administration, under investigation for serious violations of disciplinary rules and laws, state-backed Xinhua News Agency reported on Sept. 21.

The 57-year-old politician has been working as the chief of the state's organ for energy policy planning for less than four years.

After business meetings in Moscow, Russia on Sept. 19, Bekri returned to Beijing on Sept. 20 and was immediately arrested, Yicai Global learned from sources.

Bekri was born in 1961 in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and in addition to his native Turkic Uyghur language, he learned fluency in Mandarin Chinese. After graduating from the Central Party School in Beijing with a master's degree in political theory, he joined the Communist Party of China in 1982 and started to work in 1983.

Bekri got multiple nominations, such as an alternate member of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, a member of the 18th Central Committee, a representative of the 17th and 18th National Congress, as well as a representative of the 11th and 12th National People's Congress.

The 1.9-meters tall Bekri is easy to spot in the plenary "two sessions" each year, according to previous media reports.

It is said that Bekri was gifted from a young age. He was chosen first of his class to enroll at a local high school in 1977, and after just one year, he signed up for the nationwide college entrance examination. Bekri has a very good memory and he never forgets what he reads, some energy industry insiders have said.

Bekri has served as a member of the National Development and Reform Commission's party group. Since joining the NEA in Dec. 2014, he has been a secretary of the party group, deputy head and director. Prior to this, he served as the deputy secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Party Committee and was the chairman of the local government.

As the head of the energy bureau, he once hosted an anti-corruption conference, public information released by the NEA shows. At the meeting, he said that the party organizations at all levels should further strengthen their firm determination to strictly manage the party and rule it in all respects. "Resolutely win the battle against corruption, and fight for a protracted war." One of Bekri's predecessors, Liu Tienan, went to jail due to corruption charges.

Bekri hailed clean energy in his article called Road to China's Energy Development, published in state-backed political journal Qiushi in 2016. China must build a modern energy system and steadily promote energy revolution, he said, adding that efforts should be made to improve the level and use of clean energy, replace coal by electricity and natural gas, build infrastructure for electric vehicles, and upgrade oil products.

Two directors, two deputy heads and eight officials have been investigated since the re-establishment of the energy administration in 2013. Director Liu was accused of using his position to seek benefits between 2002 and 2012, receiving a total of CNY35.6 million (USD5.2 million) in property. In 2014, he was sentenced to life in prison, as well as stripped from his political rights.

Wei Pengyuan, former deputy director of the Coal Department under the NEA, was  found to have stashed away hundreds of millions of Chinese yuan in cash. Authorities busted four out of 16 bureau money counters related to the crime. In 2016, the Intermediate People's Court of the city of Baoding in Hebei province sentenced Wei to death for accepting bribes, while postponing the execution for two years.

It is also known that Wang Xiaolin, former deputy head of the NEA, was prosecuted on Sep. 20 for allegedly taking bribes. 

Energy projects are capital-intensive, and investment is generally large, often amounting to tens of billions, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Energy Economic Research Center at Xiamen University, said in an interview with Yicai Global. While project applications are numerous, "a few people are doing the work of giving approvals, and their power is relatively concentrated," he added.

Editor: Emmi Laine

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Keywords:   Nur Bekri,Anti-Graft,Corruption,National Energy Administration