BEIJING, Oct. 21 -- A former vice-ministry-level official has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and stripped of his post following allegations of bribery, the China News Service reported yesterday.

    Hou Wujie, once deputy secretary of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee, has been turned over to public prosecuting agencies for a criminal investigation. He is the first corrupt high-level official to be netted in the province.

    Preliminary investigations showed that Hou, 60, once received US$100,000 and 20,000 yuan ($2,470) in cash from police officer Shao Jianwei to help Shao gain promotion.

    Seeking to be public security bureau chief in the province's capital Taiyuan, Shao also gave him a watch worth US$7,500.

    Between January 2000 and September 2001, Hou was secretary of the city's CPC committee and a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee, the report said.

    Probes showed Hou a native of Shanxi also pocketed some 60 gifts valued at 80,000 yuan (US$9,860) from other favour-seekers.

    The CPC Shanxi Provincial Committee said yesterday that the case showed the province's unswerving resolve in rooting out corruption by Party members, the report said.

    The committee added that its next anti-graft focus is to examine possible links between officials and mine owners in the coal-rich province. Many blame officials for protecting coal producers who neglect miners' safety.

    In a related case, a Beijing court yesterday sentenced the city's former power supply bureau chief to four years in prison.

    Zhao Shuangju, arrested in September last year, was accused of dereliction of duty resulting in economic losses of 457 million yuan (US$56.3 million), the Chinacourt.org website reported yesterday.

    Zhao pleaded not guilty at the Xicheng District People's Court, which announced the sentence as a first verdict, reports said.

    Last year, the National Audit Office found that between 1994 and 1996, Zhao ordered his bureau and subordinate firms to provide a Beijing company with guarantees worth 1.1 billion yuan (US$135.6 million).

    When the Beijing Weikerui Company was later on the verge of bankruptcy, a local court ordered the Beijing Electric Power Corp, successor to Zhao's bureau, to shoulder part of the compensation.

    (Source: China Daily)