Thing is, though, this only gets exposed in the Chinese press for a reason - and it's not to show the people that corruption is being rooted out, as another poster alluded to.
The *really* corrupt ones, even by their standards, are quietly disappeared, defenestrated, or simply shot out of hand - with nary a mention in their press. This guy seems to qualify as that on the surface, and that's not what's happening to him.
There's some ulterior political motive here, and it's not at all clear what it is from the article.
It's most likely this guy wasn't spreading enough of it around to keep his masters happy and that's why he's facing a firing squad.
L