Consensus among party leaders The new party leadership under Xi Jinping reportedly began planning the crackdown on Zhou beginning in 2012. Xi's 'tough talk' on corruption began immediately after his ascension to the post of General Secretary. In his first days in office, Xi vowed to crack down on "tigers and flies", meaning extremely powerful officials as well as petty ones. Xi moved quickly to set a new standard for the expected behavior of party officials, issuing a series of guidelines to clean up the party bureaucracy. Xi may have also been concerned that Zhou might use his influence and power to turn various state security entities into tools for advancing his interests, and in the process, undermine the central authority of the state. Discussions surrounding the Zhou case took place in the summer of 2013. In June, the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party held a four-day-long conference in Beijing specifically to discuss Zhou Yongkang. During the meeting, the members of China's ruling council reportedly exchanged differing viewpoints on Zhou. Eventually, Xi Jinping and the other six members of the newly formed
18th Politburo Standing Committee came to a consensus to investigate Zhou. At his visit to the Changping Campus of the
China University of Petroleum, on 1 October 2013, Zhou publicly 'pledged his allegiance' to
Xi Jinping, China's new leader, rallying students to unite behind Xi to pursue the "
Chinese Dream". After visiting the China University of Petroleum, Zhou Yongkang has not made any public appearances since. His name last appeared in public reports in mainland China in late November 2013. Starting in August 2013, the Chinese Communist Party launched an internal investigation into the corruption of Zhou Yongkang's family. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee, set up a special task force led by
Fu Zhenghua, Vice Minister of Public Security and Director of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, to investigate Zhou Yongkang. On 1 December, Zhou Yongkang's relatives, including Zhou Bin, Huang Wan, and Huang Yusheng, were taken into custody by relevant departments. Only Zhou Bin's mother-in-law, Zhan Minli, was in the United States and was not arrested. Zhou Bin had already hired two lawyers on 25 November to handle the case. At the same time, Zhou Bin's cousin Zhou Feng, his parents Zhou Yuanqing, and Zhou Yongkang's sister-in-law Zhou Lingying were also taken away for investigation. Zhou Yuanqing was "cared for" in the hospital. On the evening of 6 December 2013, Zhou Yongkang's younger brother Zhou Yuanxing's home was searched for "unexplained huge amounts of property belonging to non-state personnel". On 18 December the Zhou family's home was searched again. On 10 February 2014, after the two searches, Zhou Yuanxing died at home. More than 160 relatives and friends attended the funeral. Zhou Yongkang and several of his relatives were unable to attend the funeral because they were under control. In early December 2013, news broke that Zhou Yongkang and his brothers and sisters had been formally placed under house arrest and detained by the
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. In December 2013, media outside mainland China reported that Zhou Yongkang had been placed under investigation by the CCDI for allegedly launching a coup to overthrow Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang's decision to succeed him at the 18th CCP National Congress, and for ordering his assistant to kill his first wife in order to marry Jia Xiaoye. On the 11th of that month, Zhou Yongkang was absent from the farewell ceremony for Tang Ke, the former Minister of Petroleum Industry, held at the Babaoshan Funeral Home (Tang Ke's obituary was not publicly released until the 17th of that month).
Personnel investigation Sources indicated that in early December, CCP General Secretarry Xi Jinping and other party and state leaders reached an agreement on the formal investigation of Zhou Yongkang by the Party Committee. A high-ranking official (believed to be
Li Zhanshu, then Director of the General Office of the CCP Central Committee) went to Zhou Yongkang's residence in central Beijing to inform him of the decision to investigate. After that, Zhou Yongkang and his wife Jia Xiaoye were kept under guard. This move broke the unspoken rule of "no punishment for members of the Politburo Standing Committee" and was said to have "shocked the political landscape of China." This was also the highest-ranking official to be investigated for corruption since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. On 20 December, the website of the CCDI announced that
Li Dongsheng, Vice Minister and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security, was under investigation for serious violations of discipline. Commentators believe that the downfall of Li Dongsheng, who had close ties with Zhou Yongkang, indicates that the CCP's discipline inspection department has begun to clean up Zhou Yongkang's associates, and that news of Zhou Yongkang's downfall is just around the corner. On December 30, the CCDI announced that
Li Chongxi, chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was placed under investigation for serious violations of discipline. He was Zhou Yongkang's personal secretary when he was the secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. On the same day, media personality Gao Yu posted on Twitter that Zhou Yongkang had been placed under investigation on 24 December. However, the Chinese government did not make any statement. The overseas Chinese website
Duowei News said that Zhou Yongkang and his allies in the oil and political and legal system, such as Jiang Jiemin and Li Dongsheng, had been arrested. This may indicate that Zhou Yongkang's arrest is not far off. If these facts are true, then this is also considered to be the biggest corruption case since the founding of the People's Republic of China. In December, Zhou, his son Zhou Bin and his daughter-in-law Huang Wan were taken into custody. The home of Zhou's younger brother Zhou Yuanxing () was searched by the authorities twice. Yuanxing died in December 2013 after a battle with cancer. Zhou Yongkang and his son Zhou Bin were not present at the funeral, fueling speculation that Zhou and his family members were all in custody. Zhou was reportedly being held in confinement without visitation rights in a heavily guarded facility on a military base near
Baotou, Inner Mongolia. By spring 2014, it became increasingly clear that Zhou's spheres of influence – the oil sector, Sichuan, the legal system, and his family members – were being methodically rounded up for investigation. However, in the absence of any official reports on Zhou himself, Chinese and international media became rife with speculation about his fate. On 2 March 2014, at a press conference of the second session of the
12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. a reporter from Hong Kong–based
South China Morning Post directly asked the spokesperson if he could provide more information on the rumours circulating about the Zhou Yongkang case. In response, the spokesman Lu Xinhua chuckled and said, "like you, I've seen some stories on a select few media outlets," he then recited a prepared party-line reply, then ended his response with a smile, "this is really all I can say in response to your question, I think you know what I mean." () Afterwards, the assembled press gallery burst into laughter. The
South China Morning Post responded to a reporter's question about whether he had been arranged by relevant parties to ask this question beforehand. Official media began to use the "you know what I mean" special feature to refer to the big tigers. Following the announcement of the investigation of
Ji Wenlin, then vice governor of Hainan, on 18 Februaryp 2014,
Shen Dingcheng, then secretary of the Party Committee of CNPC International, was taken away for investigation before the Spring Festival in February 2014. Thus, all five secretaries of Zhou Yongkang during his time at CNPC, the Ministry of Land and Resources, Sichuan, and the Ministry of Public Security, including
Guo Yongxiang, former chairman of the Sichuan Federation of Literary and Art Circles,
Li Hualin, former vice president of CNPC, and Li Chongxi, former chairman of the Sichuan CPPCC, who were detained in 2013, have fallen from grace. On the same day,
The New York Times reported that the CCDI detained Liang Ke, then director of the
Beijing State Security Bureau, in January 2014, and the investigation into him also involved Zhou Yongkang. In May 2014, Bo Qiliang, a senior official of CNPC who had violated regulations by promoting Jia Xiaoye's younger sister, was investigated. In June 2014,
Su Rong, a vice-state-level official who served as vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was arrested. Media outlets such as Duowei News Network and Mingjing News Network reported that Su Rong was one of the main members of Zhou Yongkang's group. On 2 July 2014, Yu Gang was expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office. Chinese media pointed out without naming Yu Gang that he had served as Zhou Yongkang's secretary. Jia Xiaoxia, an aunt of Zhou Bin, a senior executive of PetroChina's Canadian branch, resigned and disappeared. On 16 July 2014, after Bo Qiliang was investigated, Song Yiwu, deputy general manager of CNPC Overseas Exploration and Development Company, and Li Zhiming, the actual person in charge of CNPC in Canada, were suspected of being related to the Zhou Yongkang family case and were recently taken away for investigation.
Arrest and expulsion from the CCP Xinhua News Agency, the state news agency, released a breaking news report at 17:59:40 on 29 July 2014, announcing the formal launch of an investigation into Zhou Yongkang. This was the first time that the investigation into Zhou Yongkang had been publicly confirmed by Chinese official channels. The article formally announced that an internal party investigation against Zhou Yongkang's "violations of party discipline" had started, but did not mention any criminal wrongdoing. The news of Zhou Yongkang's downfall differed from the news of other officials' downfall, and some analysts believe that: • The report did not mention "illegal activities", only "disciplinary violations". The "disciplinary violations" refer to the decision made from the perspective of disciplinary action, indicating that the procuratorate has not yet intervened in the investigation of Zhou Yongkang. • The report did not use the word "investigation" but rather "review", which implies a lengthy investigation process. • The fact that the word " comrade " was not used in the announcement proves that the matter is true and has undergone the corresponding investigation process. The report pointed out that during Zhou Yongkang's tenure as a leader of China National Petroleum Corporation, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, and the Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, • He seriously violated Party discipline, abused his power, committed serious errors, and bears significant responsibility. • He abused his power to seek benefits for others and accepted huge bribes directly and through his family members. • He abused his power, and his son, Zhou, used his position to seek benefits for others, while his family members accepted huge amounts of money and valuables from others. • Having or maintaining improper sexual relations with multiple women; • Violating organizational and personnel discipline, resulting in serious consequences; • Suspected of embezzling huge amounts of state-owned assets; • Protecting and condoning organized crime groups. The report said that Zhou Yongkang's actions have caused serious consequences, greatly damaged the reputation of the People's Republic of China, had a very bad influence at home and abroad, and caused great losses to the People's Republic of China. The Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee decided, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Constitution of the Chinese Communist Party and the Regulations on Disciplinary Sanctions of the Chinese Communist Party, to expel Zhou Yongkang from the Party, pending ratification by the fourth plenary session of the 18th CCP Central Committee. The fourth plenary session of the 18th CCP Central Committee was held in Beijing from October 20 to 23, 2014. Several months later, the party investigation concluded that Zhou abused his power for the illicit gain of his family, friends, and associates, took "large amounts in bribes personally and through his family and associates; abused his power to further the interests of his family, mistresses, and associates; committed adultery with multiple women and engaged in the exchange of money and favours for sex; and leaked state and party secrets". State media announced Zhou's arrest to face criminal proceedings on December 5, 2014. He was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party. Zhou was the first Politburo Standing Committee member to be expelled from the party since the fall of the Gang of Four in 1980 after the Cultural Revolution. At midnight on 6 December 2014, Xinhua News Agency reported that the Politburo had reviewed and approved the "Report on the Investigation of Zhou Yongkang's Serious Violations of Discipline" by the CCDI on December 5, and decided to expel Zhou Yongkang from the Party and transfer his suspected crimes and clues to the judicial organs for handling according to law. The report stated:
Wealth Reuters quoted sources as saying that from the end of 2013 to the end of March 2014, the CCP detained or interrogated more than 300 of Zhou Yongkang's family members and confidants, and froze or confiscated at least renminbi 90 billion in assets. The report quoted sources as saying that the procuratorate and anti-corruption departments searched multiple locations in seven provincial-level administrative regions, including Beijing,
Liaoning,
Jiangsu,
Shandong,
Shanghai and
Guangdong, and seized about 326 luxury homes. They found a large amount of renminbi and foreign currency cash, gold, antiques, famous paintings, famous wines, etc., including more than 42 kilograms of gold, gold coins and silver. There was even an "armory" with 27 guns of various types and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. By March 2014, Chinese authorities were reported to have seized assets worth at least 90 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) from Zhou's family members and associates. Zhou's family reportedly made billions of dollars by investing in the oil industry, of which Zhou had headed the largest company, China National Petroleum Corp. According to the Hong Kong–based
Apple Daily, Zhou's eldest son made more than US$1.6 billion from public works in the city of Chongqing alone. He also supposedly used his father's prominence to extort millions of dollars in protection fees from various businesses and organizations. == Trial and sentencing ==