Former senior Xinjiang lawmaker expelled from CPC

BEIJING - Li Zhi, a senior lawmaker of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC's anti-corruption watchdog said on Monday.

Li, former deputy head of the standing committee of the Regional People's Congress of Xinjiang, was found "seriously violating discipline, faking personal record and cheating the organization with a wrong age," according to a statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

He was also caught accepting monetary gifts, seeking benefits for others by taking advantage of his posts in fields such as official selection and enterprise management, and "asking for and accepting huge amount of bribes", the statement said.

Li also "seriously violated socialist morality and committed adultery," it said, adding he had tried to interfere with and hamper the investigation, and transfer and hide illicit funds and property.

The CCDI announced in March that it was investigating Li. The CCDI accused him of "serious violation of discipline and law," in Monday's statement.

As a senior Party official, Li showed no intention of disciplining himself and stopping his wrongdoings even after the 18th CPC National Congress in late 2012 when the new leadership launched the anti-corruption campaign, the statement said.

According to the Party's rule, Li's illicit gains have been confiscated.

Following the CCDI statement, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that it has opened a criminal investigation into Li for alleged bribe-taking and placed him under "coercive measures", which, according to the Criminal Procedure Law, may include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention and arrest.