Tourism official ousted for alleged graft a month into new job

A senior official of the National Tourism Administration has been thrown out of the Communist Party of China and sacked from his post in the latest case of a nationwide anti-graft campaign.

Huo Ke, 54, was put under a graft probe in January, a month after being named tourism deputy head.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China's top anti-corruption authority, said on Wednesday that it filed a case against Huo with the approval of the Party's central leadership.

Huo is suspected of taking and offering bribes and leaking Party and state secrets, according to a statement on the commission's website.

"Huo seriously violated regulations about probity and self-discipline, misused public power in cadre promotions and interfered in businesses operations. In addition, Huo was involved in impeding the investigation," the statement said.

It also said Huo, as a Party official in an important position, continued his misbehavior after the crackdown on corruption began in late 2012.

The commission said it will hand over evidence of Huo's alleged crimes to prosecuting departments for further investigation.

According to public information about Huo's profile, he spent the prime years of his career in the General Office of the Communist Party's Central Committee where he worked for Ling Jihua, a senior Party official who accumulated huge illicit wealth and was expelled from the Party and removed from his post last month.

Huo was said to have served under Ling for more than 10 years during which time he worked through the ranks to become head of the secretariat of the General Office before being appointed head of tourism on December 16, according to a report by the Beijing News.

Huo's file shows that he had worked in the National Tourism Administration for only a month. On January 16, the top anti-graft authority announced an investigation into his alleged misconduct.

Ling was vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, China's top political advisory body, and head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China's Central Committee before he was brought down.

The 59-year-old was placed under investigation by China's top anti-graft watchdog on Dec 22 on corruption charges. The announcement came a week after Huo was transferred to the tourism regulatory body.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn