President of university in Yunnan wanted by police

The president of Southwest Forestry University in Yunnan province was put on a wanted list by police on Friday.

The Yunnan Provincial Public Security Department released the province’s top-level want order on Friday, showing that Jiang Zhaogang, president of Southwest Forestry University, was wanted after escaping.

Jiang, born in Yuxi of Yunnan in 1964, had worked at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics until 2008 when he was appointed as deputy secretary-general of the Yunnan Provincial Government. In 2011 he started serving as Party chief of the Yunnan Rural Credit Cooperatives and five years later he held the post of president of Southwest Forestry University.

The police didn't say why Jiang was put on the wanted list. But according to media reports, Luo Min, his former colleague and director and deputy Party chief of Yunnan Rural Credit Cooperatives, was under investigation on suspicion of serious disciplinary violations. A rural credit cooperative is a bank-like financial organization in China providing services to rural areas and is a significant part of China’s financial system.

The last time Jiang appeared in public was his attendance at a meeting of the forestry university’s Party committee on May 7. He also delivered a speech at the meeting.

The want order released Jiang’s family address and numbers of important documents, including his ID and passport.

The want order also indicated that there’s a reward of 50,000 yuan ($7,883) for any clues, reports and verifications regarding Jiang; and a reward of 100,000 yuan for catching him.

Also on Friday, Zhou Jieming, the former Party chief of Sichuan Normal University, was under investigation due to potential involvement in serious violations of the law, according to the official website of the Sichuan provincial discipline inspection committee of the Communist Party of China.

Zhou, born in 1956, started working as deputy dean of the university’s geography department in 1985. He served as principal in 2003 and was named Party chief of the university from 2014 until the end of 2016.