BEIJING - The stain of Zhou Yongkang - a former top leader who blatantly traded power for money and sex - must be washed clean, the central conference on political and legal work decided on Wednesday.

"Zhou severely harmed the Party and the people and led a number of officials astray", according to a statement issued by the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee after the conference.

"Some leaders in political and legal affairs went astray, broke laws and committed crimes, primarily because their ideals and beliefs went wrong, and values were distorted", the statement said, calling Zhou's case "a grave lesson".

Zhou Yongkang, former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee in charge of political and legal work, was arrested and expelled from the CPC in December, for serious breaches of the Party's political, organizational and confidentiality rules, as well as suspected crimes.