Former senior Chongqing municipal legislator expelled from CPC

BEIJING, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Zheng Hong, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) due to serious violations of Party discipline and laws.

The punishment was announced in an official statement by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision on Wednesday.

Zheng, also former chairman of the Chongqing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions, was found to have lost his ideals and engaged in the exchange of Party and state honors for personal gains.

It was found that he had accepted private business owners' arrangements for banquets and golf activities and organized banquets using public funds in violation of the central Party leadership's eight-point decision on improving work conduct.

Zheng had sought benefits for others in job promotion, abused his power to benefit his relatives in their business activities, and illegally interfered in judicial activities.

Zheng used public power as a tool to seek personal gains, taking advantage of his positions to seek gains for others in enterprise operations and project contracting, and accepted huge amounts of money and gifts in return, according to the statement.

These actions have gravely breached Party discipline and constitute serious duty-related malfeasance, the statement said, adding that Zheng is also suspected of criminal offenses in the form of accepting bribes.

The statement said that Zheng's case will be transferred to prosecutors for review and prosecution procedures, while his illegal gains will be confiscated.