BEIJING - A local official in South China's Zhongshan has been sacked for abuse of power in recruiting her son as a civil servant, according to a circular issued on Wednesday by national human resources authorities.

It said that Liang Guoying, while a senior official with the city's human resources bureau, ordered others in charge to change her son's score in the written test of the 2012 provincial civil servant selection in order to make him qualify for the interview round.

Local authorities expelled Liang from her office, withdrew her membership of the Communist Party of China and referred the case to the prosecutor, said the document from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and its affiliated State Administration of Civil Service.

Another five officials involved were also punished according to internal disciplinary procedures, said the circular, adding that the offer given to Liang's son has been canceled.

It stressed that the case gravely damaged the fairness and authority of civil servant selection, as well as the credibility of the government bodies in charge of the process.

Local authorities should draw lessons from the case, warn their staff, and enhance inter-agency and public supervision to promote transparency in the selection process, the circular urged.

According to a separate report in a local newspaper in the same province, Liang was charged in a criminal trial on Monday with abuse of power in recruiting civil servants and may face up to three years of imprisonment.