China arrests official who was sent to Wuhan during Covid outbreak

A former vice-minister of public security who had visited Wuhan in March 2020 has now been arrested on charges of bribery.

Sun Lijun was one of many officials who were sent to Wuhan, the epicenter of coronavirus pandemic, when the virus was rapidly spreading all through the globe. However, in September, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) due to allegations made against him.

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Lijun had been under investigation for more than a year after he was alleged of abandoning his post during the coronavirus outbreak. He was also accused of possessing confidential material without any official approval.

"The investigation found that on the frontline of fighting the Covid-19 epidemic, Sun deserted his post. He also possessed confidential materials without authorisation and engaged in superstitious activities for a long time," the earlier report said.

It was alleged that Lijun was not dedicated to the party’s ideals and faith. He "displayed extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity, issued groundless criticisms of the party’s policies, and spread political rumours," the report stated. "The circumstances were particularly serious, the nature was particularly pernicious, the impact was extremely bad and the case must be handled with extreme seriousness."

Now, he has been arrested for accepting large sums of money, property, banquet invitations and other forms of high-end entertainment activities. Authorities believe that him accepting these things could have led to him being bias.