Former Chinese aluminum boss facing graft charges

The former boss of China’s biggest aluminum producer has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party on corruption charges, the party announced yesterday, as an anti-graft campaign that has brought down oil executives spreads to other state-­owned resource industries.
Sun Zhaoxue was accused of misusing his post as general manager of Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, taking bribes and adultery, said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on its website. Sun stepped down in September.
Sun’s case was handed to prosecutors, the commission said. Once the ruling party has amassed evidence to expel such a senior figure, a criminal conviction by the party-controlled court system is certain.
The case represents an expansion of the anti-graft drive to new segments of China’s state-owned resource industries after executives at oil and gas producers were accused of corruption.
Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the crackdown in 2012 to purge the ruling party of corruption and other wrongdoing that threaten to undermine public acceptance of one-party rule.
A series of executives at state-owned China National Petroleum Corp., Asia’s biggest oil and gas producer by volume, have been detained. AP