Party expels former senior adviser

Sun Huaishan, a former senior political adviser, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China and dismissed from public office, according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Friday.

Sun, 65, was a former member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, and formerly head of the Committee for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Compatriots and Overseas Chinese of the CPPCC National Committee.

According to a statement released by the CCDI, he had severely violated political disciplines and Party rules, spoken inappropriately of the Party's key policies, formed cliques and obstructed the investigation into him.

He was found to have violated the Party's frugality code, attended banquets paid for with public spending and asked other organizations to use public funds to cover the cost of tours for his relatives, the statement said.

He was also accused of accepting money and gifts and abusing his power to seek benefits for his son's business operations, as well as taking advantage of his posts to seek benefits for others as well and accepting cash or gifts in return.

As a Party member, he was "disloyal to the Party" and "greedy", according to the statement.

The qualification of Sun as a delegate to the 18th CPC National Congress will also be terminated and his ill-gotten gains will be confiscated, according to the CCDI.

His case has been transferred to the judicial authority for further investigation, the CCDI said.

Sun joined the CPPCC in 1994, and started by serving as director of the CPPCC's administrative bureau and office management bureau.

In March, the top anti-graft watchdog launched a probe into him for "serious violations of Party rules".

In a separate development, Lu Enguang, a former ministerial-level official of the Ministry of Justice was put under investigation by the top prosecuting department for alleged bribery, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate on Friday.

According to the SPP, it has taken "coercive measures" against him, which may include summons by force, bail and detention, and the case is under further investigation.

He was a former member of the leading Party group and the head of the political department of the ministry.

In May, he was expelled from the Party and removed from his post for allegedly faking personal documents, buying official positions and bribery, according to the CCDI.

A former high-ranking Shanghai official, Dai Haibo, was sentenced to nine years in jail for accepting bribes and concealing assets in overseas accounts. Dai is a former deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai municipal government. The investigation into him started in 2015.

According to No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, Dai accepted more than 9.9 million yuan ($1.45 million) in bribes when he worked in several posts in Shanghai from 1998 to 2015.

Dai opened bank, stock and fund accounts with Citibank Hong Kong in April 2001 without reporting his assets to superior authorities as required.

As of March 2015, the accounts were worth more than 1.58 million yuan in total, prosecutors said.

The court imposed a fine of 2 million yuan and confiscated his illegal profits. It said Dai showed remorse during the investigation.

China Daily - Xinhua