CHINA / Regional |
Sacked Beijing vice mayor loses additional post(AP)Updated: 2006-12-10 14:24 BEIJING -- The sacked vice mayor of Beijing, who oversaw Olympic and related construction projects, has also been dismissed from the city's Municipal People's Congress, state media reported Sunday. Xinhua News Agency reported that Liu Zhihua, who was fired suddenly in June for unspecified corrupt acts, was dismissed as a deputy to the local legislature after the standing committee of the local people's congress "verified the facts of his wrongdoings, which have been found to be quite serious." The announcement comes several days after China installed a new supervisor for construction projects for the 2008 Summer Olympics as part of efforts to prevent corruption. In the six months since Liu was first detained for investigation, Beijing officials have said that his alleged misdeeds have not affected Olympic projects. On Thursday, Wu Jingjun, the spokesman for Beijing's 2008 Olympics Projects and Construction Headquarters Office, said that was still the case. "The Liu Zhihua case is an individual problem that has nothing to do with Olympic venue construction," Wu told reporters. Wu was speaking at a news conference where it was announced that Xu Bo, an engineer in the Ministry of Construction, had been appointed head of Beijing's 2008 Olympics office to help fight corruption and ensure the quality of construction. Wu also said that auditing of the projects had been stepped up to make sure Olympics funds are not misused. Xinhua said that because Liu "had violated the discipline of the Communist Party of China and the government" his case had been put forward for further investigation and prosecution. The promotion of Xu comes amid a general anti-corruption drive in Beijing and other major Chinese cities. State media announced recently that new Communist Party corruption watchdogs had been appointed in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin. |
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