China expels former Politburo member Ma Xingrui from Communist Party after graft probe
Ma Xingrui, 67, became the third member of the Politburo to come under investigation in the current term that began in 2022, a situation unseen in decades.
Ma Xingrui speaks during a news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Mar 7, 2025. (Photo: AP/Vincent Thian)
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Former Politburo member and Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui has been removed from the party and dismissed from public office following an anti-corruption investigation, the state broadcaster said on Tuesday (Jul 14).
Ma, 67, who once headed China’s new-generation carrier rocket programme, became the third member of the Politburo – the ruling party’s elite political body – to come under investigation in the current term that began in 2022, a situation unseen in decades.
Before his role in Xinjiang, Ma became deputy party secretary of the southern province of Guangdong in 2013 after a brief stint at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. He went on to become party secretary of Shenzhen, provincial vice-governor and then governor.
The Politburo reviewed and approved the report on Ma’s cases by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the ruling party’s top disciplinary and anti-corruption body, on Jun 30, according to the state-run news agency Xinhua on Tuesday.
Ma was found to have “lost his ideals and beliefs”, abandoned “his political conviction”, “betrayed the party’s principles and original mission” and “seriously violated (the party’s) political discipline and rules”, the Xinhua report said.
China announced the investigation into Ma in April.
The CCDI also accused him of “improperly accepting gifts and money, helping relatives purchase houses at low prices” and engaging in “power-for-sex and money-for-sex transactions”.
Ma also condoned his relatives using his influence to seek huge profits, “fostering rampant corruption across his family”, it said.
“He distorted public power (entrusted to him) into a tool for personal gain, using his position to seek benefits for others in business operations, project contracting and job promotions”, the Xinhua statement said.
It added that Ma, via family members or associates, had been “illegally accepting huge amounts of money and property”.
The investigation also found that he “neglected to supervise and manage the serious violations of (party) discipline and law and suspected crimes committed by his staff”, resulting in severe consequences.
According to the CCDI’s charges, Ma was also found to have intervened with personnel decisions, “seeking benefits for others in cadre selection and appointment, and improperly arranging jobs for others, personally and through relatives”.
Ma also did not truthfully confess his corruption problems during the party’s initial inquiries, the CCDI said, adding that his behaviour continued after the 18th Party Congress, when President Xi Jinping announced his sweeping anti-corruption campaign and strict official conduct rules.
Ma’s conduct was “extremely serious in nature and (he was) an extremely bad influence”, the CCDI’s report said. His ill-gotten gains would be confiscated and Ma handed over to the judiciary to face trial, it added.
Another member of China's elite Politburo is to be taken out by a corruption probe. The former party chief of the Xinjiang region in China's northwest, Ma Xingrui, is being investigated for “severe violations of unspecified laws and party discipline". Mr Ma has not been seen at high-level meetings since late last year. He is the third on the originally 24-large Politburo to fall victim to what many consider the widest purge in decades by Chinese president Xi Jinping. Deborah Wong reports from Shenzhen.
Ma succeeded Chen Quanguo as party boss of the sensitive western Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region in 2021, becoming a Politburo member the following year at the 20th party congress.
After the removal of Ma and two top military leaders, the once 24-member Politburo is down to 21 members.
He Weidong, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top military command body, led by Xi, was expelled from the party and military in October.
Another CMC vice-chairman, Zhang Youxia, was placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of party discipline and law, the defence ministry said in January.
The Xinjiang region has seen a slew of officials placed under investigation in recent months.
They include Chen Weijun, former executive vice-chairman of Xinjiang whose case was announced in December, and Li Xu, former deputy commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, whose investigation was made public in January.
As an aerospace expert, Ma spent many years working at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, serving as its general manager from 2007 to 2013.
During that time, Ma was both deputy commander-in-chief of China’s manned space programme and commander-in-chief of the new-generation carrier rocket project. Several of his former subordinates in the aerospace sector have been caught in the anti-corruption net in the past few years.
This article was first published on SCMP.
