Tang Ruoxin, the head of the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, the country's only policy-oriented export credit insurer.

The head of the China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, the country's only policy-oriented export credit insurer, was removed from post and party membership over allegations of accepting bribes, the country's insurer watchdog said on Thursday.

The decision was made on Dec 2, 2008, the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said on Thursday. Tang Ruoxin, the Party Secretary and the General Manager of the company was arrested on Aug 21, 2008 on bribery allegations.

After months of investigation, the CRIC has found that hefty state-owned assets were lost when Tang abused his power to benefit others. He and his family were allegedly accepting a large amount of bribes.

Tang, who had been in the top position of the company since its establishment in 2001, allegedly offered credit guarantee to the Shanghai Hongsheng (Norcent) Technology Co, who lied to the bank and defaulted on a 245-million-U.S.-dollar bank loan.

Tang was still under investigation, CRIC said.

CRIC chairman Wu Dingfu said at an anti-corruption meeting held on Thursday that the fight against corruption should be strengthened to head off risks in the insurance sector.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2009)