Sacked in June for corruption, Beijing's former vice mayor Liu
Zhihua, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China
(CPC).
Liu has also been dismissed from all administrative posts, the
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC announced
Tuesday. Judicial departments will also launch criminal proceedings
against Liu.
"As a senior cadre, Liu completely ignored the Party spirit and
caused a vile social and political impact and major economic losses
through his wrongdoing, which must be seriously punished," the
commission said.
The commission investigation of Liu found he'd taken advantage
of his posts as vice mayor and secretary-general of the Beijing
municipal government to take several million yuan in bribes.
The investigation also found that Liu's lifestyle was corrupt
and depraved and he abused his power in order to contract projects
for his mistress and sought large illegal profits.
"Hard evidence has shown that Liu seriously violated the
discipline of the CPC and the government and issues such as bribery
have violated the law," the commission said.
The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's
Congress published in a bulletin last Friday that Liu had been
dismissed as deputy to the local legislature.
Liu, 57, is from Liaoning, northeast China. He joined the CPC in
1984. His former posts include head of the Beijing Municipal Labor
Bureau, secretary of CPC Committee of Xicheng District in Beijing
and the secretary-general of Beijing Municipal People's
Government.
He was elected vice mayor in 1999 that oversaw construction,
real estate, sports and traffic projects in the capital. Liu is yet
another high-ranking official who has fallen from grace in China's
fight against corruption.
The sacking of Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu in September
for alleged involvement in a social security fund scandal is the
country's highest-ranking official to fall in the latest
anti-corruption campaign.
Later, Qiu Xiaohua, former statistics chief, was removed from
the National Bureau of Statistics for his suspected involvement in
the 10 billion-yuan (US$1.25 billion) Shanghai social security fund
fraud.
China has always taken a hard stand against corruption and
there's no exception in punishing corrupt officials, said Ouyang
Song, deputy head of the Organization Department of the CPC Central
Committee. He said China's anti-corruption drive had made
achievements in recent years as the CPC dealt with corruption by
looking into its root cause.
"We'll continue to step up our anti-corruption efforts and
punish those who violate laws and regulations to safeguard the
purity of our party," said Gan Yisheng, secretary-general of the
CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
In 2005 the number of party members receiving disciplinary
punishment stood at 115,000. This accounts for 0.16 percent of the
party's total.
Of them 11,071 were expelled from the party and 7,279 have been
transferred to the judicial authorities for criminal
investigations.
(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2006)