China: 4 senior officials expelled from Communist Party

By Mahmut Atanur

BEIJING (AA) – Four former senior officials -- including two military officers -- have been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) under President Xi Jinping’s campaign against corruption.

The China Daily reported Friday that the CPC’s four-day plenum that ended Thursday approved the expulsion of Liaoning province’s former Party chief Wang Min, former Beijing deputy Party chief Lyu Xiwen and former senior officers Fan Changmi and Niu Zhizhong.

Wang, who had also served as a senior national legislator, was accused of serious electoral fraud and violating frugality rules, according to China’s top anti-graft watchdog.

Lyu was found responsible for discipline violations such as taking advantage of her post to seek profits for others and “voicing groundless criticism against the Party line”.

The Daily cited a communique as saying the plenum also passed a report the Central Military Commission had filed on "serious disciplinary violations" by Fan and Niu.

In 2013, President Xi launched a corruption probe under which tens of thousands of suspects have been investigated, including dozens of high-profile individuals at the top of the CPC.

In August, the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Committee (CCDI) announced that 163,000 officials -- including 41 at provincial and ministerial levels -- were penalized this year for violating party's political discipline.

According to the anti-graft body, 336,000 people were punished last year, with the cases of 14,000 submitted to the judiciary for suspected criminal activity.