Two former officials removed for corruption

Two former officials have been removed from the Communist Party of China and their work posts for being suspected of severely violating laws and Party disciplines, the country's top anti-corruption regulator said on Friday.

Fan Yifei, who served as vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, had been placed under the disciplinary and supervisory investigation late last year.

After the investigation, Fan was found to have had weak political consciousness and engaged in superstitious activities, with violations of the Party's frugality campaign, according to a statement posted by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.

The statement also said that Fan had long accepted improper services, such as banquets, travels and golf games, revealing that he also received gifts and money from others as well as visited private clubs.

While illegal aiding others in job promotion and interfering in law enforcement activities, he was discovered to have used the financial industry to engage in illicit trading and sought benefits for others in matters such as loans and company operation, it added.

On Friday, the top anti-corruption watchdog also announced that Zhou Jiankun has been removed from the Party and office for suspected serious violations of the discipline and laws.

Zhou, a former vice-chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, had been placed under investigation last year.

He was also found to have received gifts and money, with acceptance of improper services, such as banquets, according to a statement posted by CCDI and NSC on website.

In addition, he was discovered to have used poverty alleviation projects for his personal gain and illegally held non-listed company shares and engaged in power-for-money transactions.

Furthermore, the CCDI and NSC found that he used his work positions to illegally provide aid for others in enterprise operation and construction contracting, it added.

While removing Fan and Zhou from the Party and the offices, the top anti-corruption regulator said that clues of violating laws in the two cases have also been transferred to prosecuting authorities for further investigation.

On Friday, Chen Rugui, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, local top legislature, had been indicted on charges of bribery, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top procuratorate.