BEIJING, March 11 -- A Chinese political advisor on Friday called on the country to eliminate "pernicious vestiges" left by corrupt officials in the oil industry as the country presses ahead with its anti-corruption drive.

Fu Chengyu, former chairman of state oil giant Sinopec, told a press conference on the sidelines of the country's annual parliamentary session that disgraced former leader Zhou Yongkang had "caused considerable damage to the cause of our Party and our country" and severely undermined officials' conducts and the corporate culture in the oil industry.

Zhou, China's highest-ranking ex-official jailed in decades, was sentenced to life in prison in June last year for graft.

He had worked as a technician in the oil industry long before rising up to the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, and was believed to wield considerable influence in the industry till his investigation in 2014.

Asked to comment on the impact China's current anti-graft drive has on its economy, Fu said the popular campaign had helped cleared the "air". "In particular, it cleansed our political and economic ecology and made room for healthy development of corporates," he said.

"The anti-corruption campaign is not about those graft cases. Rather, (it is about rectifying) corruption's poisoning of our business environment and officials' conducts," said the retired former oil refiner chief.

He said further efforts must be made to weed out Zhou's "pernicious vestiges" in the oil industry. Otherwise, it will not be able to compete with its international peers, he said.

"The anti-graft drive is a fundamental measure to boost economic growth and preserve a healthy business environment," Fu said.