China is set to bring charges against former Tibet leader Qi Zhala as the campaign against corruption intensifies

China is set to bring charges against former Tibet leader Qi Zhala as the campaign against corruption intensifies

China will prosecute Qi Zhala, a former senior political adviser and former head of the Tibet regional government, on charges of bribery and abuse of power, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate said Wednesday.

The move comes six months after the 67-year-old ethnic Tibetan was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office.

The U.S.-based International Campaign for Tibet called Qi Zhala the “seniormost Tibetan… working under the Chinese system” to face such an investigation, saying the case underscores how “corruption is pervasive in Tibetan areas.”

His prosecution is the latest step in Beijing’s sweeping anti-corruption drive. A day earlier, a Chinese court executed Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International, after convicting him of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$156 million) in bribes, making him the third official executed for corruption since 2012.