Former Hangzhou Communist Party Secretary Zhou Jiangyong was formally expelled from the organization and removed from his post for having “supported the disorderly expansion of capital”, Wednesday January 26. A new accusation in the repertoire of the Central Commission for the Inspection of Party Discipline, which has cause for concern for digital platforms, Alibaba in the front line. Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, located 165 kilometers southwest of Shanghai, is a metropolis known for its dynamism, supported by local officials. The city is home to the headquarters of e-commerce giant Alibaba, and surveillance camera champions Hikvision and Dahua, as well as a vast start-up ecosystem.
Zhou Jiangyong’s exclusion comes five months after his surprise arrest in August 2021 for “serious violation of discipline and laws”. The then leader of Hangzhou is accused of having “accepted properties for very large amounts, in collaboration with his family”. “Zhou Jiangyong has lost his beliefs and ideals. He secretly opposed the plans of the central government, supported the disorderly expansion of capital and participated in superstitious activities and deliberately resisted investigations,” continues the press release, which specifies that Mr. Zhou will soon be indicted by a court.
Illegal borrowing
After Mr. Zhou and his second in command, Ma Xiaohui, were arrested in August, the Disciplinary Committee ordered 25,000 officials and their families to drive “self-examinations and corrections” about their relationships with local businesses, citing in particular instances of illegal borrowing. The party’s disciplinary committee has waged a fierce anti-corruption campaign since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, but it has never placed so much emphasis on the relationship between trade and politics: during the committee’s plenum , on January 21, she insisted: “Efforts will be made to investigate and confront the corruption behind the disorderly expansion of capital and platform monopolies, and to cut the ties between power and capital. »
Regulatory measures have cost platforms and investors dearly, but corruption investigations would pose even greater risks
Xi Jinping was the first to call for “fight against the disorderly expansion of capital”, at the end of 2020, shortly after the suspension in extremis of the IPO of Ant Group, the financial subsidiary of Alibaba. The cancellation was in fact the starting point of a vast campaign to regulate digital platforms, in sectors as varied as commerce, finance or online education. So far, the platforms have been punished by the various regulators: Alibaba was fined a record 2.3 billion euros, and Meituan 456 million, both for abuse of a dominant position. These numerous regulatory measures have cost platforms and investors dearly, but corruption investigations would entail even greater risks.
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