Head of China energy bureau placed under corruption investigation

China has launched a probe into the head of the national energy agency amid allegations of corruption from the Communist party’s anti-graft department, the Financial Times reports.

Nur Bekri, an ethnic Uyghur from the north-western Xinjiang region, has “suspected serious disciplinary and legal violations”, the Central Committee on Discipline Inspection said on Friday, without offering further detail.

As the FT notes, detention by the CCDI almost inevitably results in conviction.

Bekri has been leading China’s coal mining policy in recent years, encouraging large-scale mining in his native region at the expense of imports from international suppliers such as Australia. Xinjiang is estimated to hold around 40% of China’s national coal reserves.