As
part of an ongoing drive to rid itself of corruption, the Chinese
government executed a former deputy mayor for bribery Sunday.
Li Chenglong, 48, a former vice-mayor of Guigang in the southern
province of Guangxi, was executed after a court rejected his appeal.
Li was given the death sentence after he was convicted of
accepting bribes in exchange for jobs and construction contracts,
the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The bribes totaled more than $475,000 US.
The execution follows a report in a Hong Kong newspaper that
China is preparing to arrest a former vice-minister of public
security for taking bribes and covering up smuggling.
The former security official, under investigation for 16 months,
was thrown out of the Communist Party because of the accusations.
He was found to have been "deeply involved" in China's biggest
smuggling scandal in five decades in the southeastern city of
Xiamen.
Almost 200 people are being investigated in the three billion
yuan ($362.3 million US) scandal.
Chinese President,
Jiang Zemin |
The case involves smuggling of firearms, cars and crude oil and
involves top Xiamen police officers, senior bankers and customs
agents, and the former wife of an ally of President Jiang Zemin in
the powerful Politburo.
The former security official, who had admitted the crimes, was
likely to get a death sentence as the government tried to stress
that no one was above the law.
The reports have not been confirmed by Chinese officials.
China has recently intensified its crackdown on corruption, which
Jiang has called a tumour threatening the party's grip on power.
