Corruption Charges Against ex-head of China’s Aircraft Carrier Program

China is probing a corruption case pertaining to Hu Wenming, who was in-charge of the project to build the country’s first domestic aircraft carrier, Shandong.

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) posted on its website Tuesday that Hu Wenming, former Party chief and chairman of the China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) is being investigating the alleged corruption charges.

A couple of months ago, Sun Bo, a former general manager of the company was sentenced to 12 years in prison over dishonest dealings. He is said to have leaked confidential information about China’s first carrier, Liaoning, that served as a template for Shandong, to foreign powers.

China’s anti-corruption watchdog accused Sun of trading power for financial gain, accepting bribes, not following orders from the central leadership which “harmed” the interests of state-owned enterprises, and lying to its inspection team.

Hu oversaw the development of both Liaoning and Shandong.

The watchdog inspected CSIC twice during Hu’s reign. The company was indicted for losing state assets, not abiding by the central authority rules against extravagance, not introducing stringent personnel appointment rules, and for failing to rectify mistakes pointed out by the CCDI inspection team.

Hu had worked in several major Chinese state-owned arms companies- Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO), China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and CSIC, according to the People's Daily.

In 2017, Liu Changhong, CSIC’s head of discipline, was slapped with corruption charges.