Two Shanxi officials removed from posts

Two senior officials who served in corruption-ridden Shanxi province have been removed from their posts and expelled from the Communist Party of China for alleged bribe-taking and adultery, the country's top disciplinary watchdog said.

Shen Weichen, 58, former Party chief and executive vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology and former Party chief of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, has been expelled from the Party and removed from his posts, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC said on Monday.

The watchdog also announced that Jin Daoming, vice-chairman of the Shanxi Provincial People's Congress Standing Committee, has been expelled from the Party and his posts for similar violations including bribe-taking and adultery.

Meanwhile, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced on Monday that it has launched investigations into the two officials for suspected bribe-taking. They have been taken into custody, it said.

The two were transferred to judicial authorities as scores of senior officials in Shanxi province were being investigated for disciplinary violations.

The anti-graft campaign has resulted in a shake-up of the province's top leadership, the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Shanxi Provincial Committee, with four officials probed on suspicion of corruption and another three transferred to other posts.

A native of Shanxi, Shen rose from a telephone operator at a township government in Lucheng county in 1969 to become a member of the county's top leadership in 1983.

He was promoted to Party chief of Jinzhong in 1998 and Party chief of Taiyuan in 2006.

Jin, a native of Beijing, served as the chief of Shanxi's disciplinary watchdog for five years before being promoted to vice-chairman of the province's top legislature.

Zhu Lijia, a professor of clean governance at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told China Daily that the corruption problem in Shanxi is more serious than in other provinces because of its resource-based economy.

"Coal is a public resource, and officials have great power in examining and approving its possession and transfer, as well as investment in the industry," Zhu said. "This offers officials many opportunities for corrupt activity."

xuwei@chinadaily.com.cn