Former Shanghai party chief expelled from Party, government

BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Former Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from all government posts on Thursday, said a press release issued by the CPC Central Committee.
His case has been handed over to the prosecutors, said the statement.
The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee convened a meeting Thursday reviewing the investigation report on Chen's case handed by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
"The punishment was imposed on Chen according to the CPC Constitution and Regulation of the CPC on Disciplinary and Law on Civil Servants," the press release said.
Chen was also removed Tuesday from his position as deputy to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC), according to the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress.
Four months ago, nine officials involved in the scandal were expelled from the Party and lost their government posts, including Zhu Junyi, director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social Security, and Qin Yu, deputy secretary of the Shanghai's Baoshan District CPC Committee.
In mid-June, Wang Guoxiong, former general manager of Shanghai Industrial Investment Group and one of the nine, was the first to be tried in connection with the scandal.
The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection started an investigation into Chen's case in September last year.
Earlier reports said more than 100 investigators from Beijing had gone to Shanghai to probe the corruption case in which money was siphoned off from Shanghai's social security system, which manages more than 10 billion yuan (1.25 billion dollars) in funds.
Chen, born in 1946, was the secretary of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee and member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee when the corruption scandal broke out.
According to the investigation, Chen had misused his power to support the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security to grant huge amount of loans from the Shanghai social security fund to private companies illegally.
He also lent a hand to help private companies purchase shares of state-owned enterprises causing great damage to the public assets, according to the release.
Chen abused his power to seek illegal profits in project examination and approval, fund allocation, investment attraction, land planning and promoting inferior officials.
Both Chen and his family received bribes worth "a huge amount of money," the press release said.
Chen also offered help to his family members who were seeking "huge sums of illegal profits" from businesses, it said.
He was "morally decadent," the statement said, adding that he took advantage of his post to "philander" and traded the power with sexual favors.
He also shielded officials close to him who violated laws or Party disciplines, it said.
Chen seriously violated Party discipline, caused great losses to the interests of the people and the nation, tarnished the image of the CPC and his actions had "an extremely bad social influence," the statement said.
"The battle against corruption has a direct bearing on the public feeling, the CPC's survival, and the country's long-term social stability," said the statement.
The CPC Central Committee said Chen's punishment "further demonstrates the CPC's resolution to fight corruption."
CPC organizations at various levels must have a deep understanding of the protracted, complex and hard nature of the battle against corruption, the statement said.
"Setting Chen's case as a negative example as well as a warning, they should find problems, close loopholes and make great efforts to build a clean Party and fight against corruption," it said.
The party organs are required to further anti-corruption education among officials, build a system that can effectively supervise officials and root out corruption.
The statement also urged heavier penalty on corrupt officials.
"As long as one violated disciplines or laws, he would be severely punished no matter what post he holds," the statement said.
The country has taken several senior officials to the court for corruption, including Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, who was executed on July 10.