5 senior officials investigated on bribery allegations

Five senior Party and government officials who are suspected of accepting a large sum of bribes have been transferred to judicial departments for further investigation and possible prosecution in Guangdong province, according to the city's anti-graft body.

The officials, who have been sacked, include Gong Hui, deputy head of Guangzhou's Baiyun district; Liu Yangbo, a member of the standing committee of the Zengcheng city committee of the Communist Party of China and director of the committee's general office; Qiu Chunlei, deputy director of the Guangzhou bureau of health; Wang Menglian, a former chief auditor for the Guangzhou administration of National Taxation; and Xu Huanyu, general manager of Guangzhou Chemical Industrial Group Co, said Mei Heqing, a senior official from the Guangzhou Party Commission of Discipline Inspection, at a press conference on Monday.

"Preliminary investigations have indicated that Gong, Liu, Qiu and Xu each took bribes valued at more than 1 million yuan ($162,600)," Mei said.

Gong, Qiu, Wang and Xu were deputy prefecture-level officials while Liu was a county-level official, Mei added.