Shanghai Airport Authority Boss Probed for Graft

Wu Jianrong, chairman of the Shanghai Airport Authority, was placed under investigation by the government’s top graft buster, becoming the latest high-level official of a state-owned enterprise to be suspected of corruption.

Wu is being probed on suspicion of “violating party discipline and laws,” the Shanghai branch of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said Monday in a brief statement. The commission didn’t elaborate on what misconduct is suspected, but the phrase often refers to corruption.

The Shanghai Airport Authority is the state-owned airport operator in Shanghai, China’s financial hub. The authority operates Pudong and Hongqiao airports in the city and is the controlling shareholder of Shanghai-listed Shanghai International Airport Co. Ltd. The company’s shares tumbled nearly 8% on the news.

Wu, 56, was a veteran of the Shanghai bureaucracy before he was appointed to the airport authority in 2017. He previously held government posts including deputy director of the city’s development and reform commission and deputy secretary general of the municipal government.

Wu was last seen in public July 23, when he was reported to have attended a ceremony for a partnership agreement between the Shanghai Airport Authority and the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Among other high-profile officials who have fallen from grace under allegations of corruption in Shanghai in recent years are Ai Baojun, a former vice mayor in charge of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, and Wang Zongnan, former head of state-owned Bright Food Group.

Ai was sentenced in April 2017 to a 17-year prison term for bribery and corruption. Wang received 18 years in jail in 2015 for embezzlement and bribery.

Since last year, several senior officials in China’s airport industry have been charged with corruption, including a former general manager of Beijing Capital International Airport Co. Ltd., a former president of Guangdong Airport Authority and a deputy manager of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Co. Ltd.

Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)