Liu Yajun, a civil aviation official, has committed suicide. While no details of Liu’s motives are currently known, his death comes amid graft investigations facing the aviation industry. From Caixin:
A senior civil aviation official reportedly killed himself in Guangzhou Province on June 24 by standing in front of an approaching train. The incident is believed to be related to the ongoing corruption investigations within China’s civil aviation system.
Liu Yajun, identified as the victim, was the party secretary and the director of Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC)’s Central and Southern Regional Administration.
No statement has yet been released by the administration about Liu’s death, but the official Xinhua news agency quoted the local public security department as saying that Liu was struck by a high-speed train on the Guangzhou to Shenzhen railway track. The police department has launched an investigation into the incident.
Some sources from the civil aviation sector confirmed with Caixin that Liu “committed suicide,” and left a letter of which no details have been revealed.
From an Associated Press report, via The Globe and Mail:
But his death comes amid a slew of dismissals and reports of graft investigations involving both government and civilian officials connected with an industry that’s rife with opportunities for bribery and influence peddling.
“They’re toppling like dominoes,” declared a headline in China Business News, a major financial newspaper.
[…] The high-profile treatment by the state-controlled press of the aviation-related allegations, mainly involving suspected bribery connected with the awarding of air routes and slots at airports, suggests that more trouble is coming.
Kuang Xin, director of civil aviation affairs at the National Development and Reform Commission, the government’s main planning agency, was detained for questioning into allegations he took bribes to approve airport projects, the newspaper Global Times and other reports said Tuesday.
It said the probe was targeting many other aviation officials.
Read more about the controversy surrounding the Civil Aviation Department, at Caixin.
