Sacked China`s top cop under a year probation for covering son

Beijing: A top policeman in north China has been put on probation for a year after he was sacked last year for an allegation of covering up his son`s drunk driving and subsequent assault on police. Deputy Police Chief of Shanxi Province, Li Yali and police chief of the provincial capital of Taiyuan will be on probation within the Communist Party of China (CPC) for one year, the CPC`s provincial discipline and inspection authority announced today.

In October last year, Li`s son Li Zhengyuan was filmed while assaulting an officer after being stopped for a traffic violation and that video on Chinese social media sites went viral. The tape shows Zhengyuan assaulting an officer and then officers forced him to take a blood alcohol test which indicated that he had been drunk driving, but rather then taking him into custody, some other officers walked him home. The discipline authority said the provincial government, as well as the government of Taiyuan, should remove Li from from his police posts. The CPC Constitution states that CPC members on probation are forbidden from voting or otherwise participating in CPC elections, as well as calls for members on probation to be expelled from the CPC if they do not correct their wrongdoings. Li was suspended from his police posts, as well as removed from his post as CPC secretary of the Taiyuan public security bureau, on December 7 in order to cooperate in an investigation following a whistleblower`s report that claimed Li had used his position to cover up his son`s drunk driving. An investigation by the CPC discipline authority found that Li had abused his power, a form of official misconduct, while handling his son`s offence. The investigation showed that Li had committed other wrongdoings related to organisation and personnel matters. PTI