Liu Tienan
Liu Tienan (Chinese: 刘铁男) was the former deputy minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and director of National Energy Administration. He was convicted of bribery and sentenced to life in prison by the Langfang Intermediate People's Court in north China's Hebei Province on Dec. 10, 2014.
His case was exposed from a Weibo post (China’s equivalent to twitter) by Luo Changping, deputy editor-in-chief of Caijing, a Chinese magazine on economics and finance, who reported Liu had fabricated his educational background, had been swindling money out of banks together with Ni Ritao, who bribed Liu with considerable amounts of money via the accounts of Liu’s son, and had conducted an extra-marital affair. Liu thus becomes the highest official to be accused by the real-name report to CCDI.
According to Luo, he began to know of Liu’s corruptive life through an overseas call from a woman surnamed Xu, who alleged she was the lover of Liu and was currently being receiving death threats from him.
Upon hearing this, Luo, a journalist for the insightful economic magazine, started to delve into the matter. Subsequently, Luo collected enough evidence, including diplomas, bank accounts, contracts, the printed version of passports and the photo of him and his lover Xu. He released documents online through his Weibo account and attached his real-name report to an article entitled “The Acquisition with Chinese Characteristics -- the cross-border swindling of the deputy general director and his nepotistic businessman on bank loans.”
According to the article, Ni Ritao, a businessman from Zhejiang Province, loaned 200 million yuan (US$ 32.5 million) to purchase New Skeena, a paper pulp producer based in Canada. Yet the report revealed Ni already held the majority of stakes in New Skeena before applying for the loan. His fraudulency was backed by a deputy general director, and government official, whose wife and son were working in Ni’s company. According to the report, Liu’s wife Guo Jinghua held ten percent of the stakes in Ni’s company when it was established in 2003. In 2006, Guo transferred these shares to her son Liu Decheng.
That government official is now known to have been Liu and his wife Guo had been on the board of directors in Ni’s company.
Liu denied all accusations when Luo’s Weibo report to CCDI went public on Dec. 6, 2012. A spokesman for the National Energy Administration accused Luo of spreading rumors and tarnishing Liu’s image, saying the Administration had been in contact with the police and the website’s management office to take further action. Liu appeared four times on Chinese Central Television’s 7:00 p.m. news broadcasts, one of the most important news broadcasts on top-level official activities. The People’s Daily recently commented that a spokesman holds a public position, yet is often degraded to the level of a personal servant for high-ranking officials.
On May 12, 2013, the Ministry of Supervision announced on its website Liu was under investigation for suspected anti-discipline activities. Liu was removed from his posts on May 14, 2013.
On Dec. 10, 2014, the former senior economic planning official was convicted of bribery and sentenced to life in prison by the Langfang Intermediate People's Court in north China's Hebei Province.
Liu’s Resume
Born in Oct. 1954, in Beijing
Master’s degree in Economics and a Ph.D. in Engineering
1983: Worked his way up in the National Planning Commission, starting from a bottom-level official to group leader of the northeastern industrial renewal project
1996-1999: Economic counselor of the Chinese embassy in Japan
2006: Deputy office director of the northeastern industrial renewal project under the State Council
Mar. 2008: Deputy minister and CPC executive member of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
Dec. 2010-Mar.2013: Deputy minister and CPC executive member of NDRC and director of the National Energy Administration
