Police chief sacked for misconduct cover-up

A high-level police officer in North China was removed from his positions and subjected to a discipline investigation for covering up his son's assault of a traffic police officer.

Li Yali, 52, head of the Public Security Bureau of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, and the deputy head of the provincial public security department, was removed from both positions on Thursday evening.

Details of Li's offense was not announced. He was replaced as Taiyuan police chief by Liu Suiji, secretary of Taiyuan city's commission of politics and law.

A source with the Taiyuan city government said that the decision came after the authorities saw a whistle-blowing report on how Li used his power to cover up a disturbance involving his son, Li Zhengyuan, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

A widely circulated online video showed that the younger Li attacked traffic police officer Xia Kun when Li Zhengyuan, driving a sport utility vehicle, was caught running a red light on Oct 28.

The younger Li was stopped by three police officers who arrived at the scene later.

Police took blood-alcohol tests and found that he was driving drunk. But instead of being detained, he walked home, escorted by plainclothes officers sent by the public security bureau.

Xia claimed that he was forced to keep silent afterward, and his mother received threatening text messages.

The removal of Li Yali from his posts follows a series of recent cases in which a large number of high-level officials were investigated and dismissed for corruption.

Li Chuncheng, 56, deputy secretary of the Sichuan provincial committee of the CPC, was investigated for alleged disciplinary violations, the local authorities announced on Thursday.

Lei Zhengfu, Party secretary of a district in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, was sacked on Nov 23 after a video of him having sex with a woman was circulated on the Internet.

Jiang Ming'an, a law professor of Peking University, said that the newly elected Party leaders expect to gain the trust from the public.

Officials must curb the activities of their family members, drivers and safeguards to prevent them from destroying the image of the government, Jiang said.

Contact the writers at sunruisheng@chinadaily.com.cn and anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn