Shanghai Leader Ousted for Corruption

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

SHANGHAI, China – Shanghai’s top leader was dismissed Monday for alleged corruption, the highest level official to be sacked in more than a decade as President Hu Jintao consolidates his power.

Chen Liangyu was fired as Shanghai’s Communist Party secretary, kicked off the party’s powerful Politburo and is under investigation by its anti-graft watchdog, the official Xinhua News Agency said. His dismissal "demonstrates the party’s determination to fight corruption," Xinhua said.

The move ends a potential challenge to Hu, who has been targeting political opponents through an anti-corruption crackdown in the run-up to a key party congress in 2007. That meeting will reapportion jobs among the political elite, with Hu, who heads the party, expected to install favored leaders for his second five-year term.

As a senior member of the party’s so-called "Shanghai faction," the 59-year-old Chen was considered a protege of former President Jiang Zemin. Hu has been methodically shredding Jiang’s lingering authority.

"Sacking Chen shows that Jiang has no power to protect his proteges and is in no position to affect the choice of new leaders," said Joseph Cheng, director of the Contemporary China Research Center at Hong Kong’s City University.

The investigation into Chen centers on the misuse of at least one-third of a $1.2 billion city pension fund for illicit investments in real estate and other infrastructure. Chen is accused of aiding illegal businesses, shielding corrupt colleagues and abusing his position to benefit family members, Xinhua said.

Chen’s removal is also likely to boost Hu’s popularity among the Chinese public, who have grown increasingly cynical and angry over pervasive official corruption.

"This is a very popular move," said Li Datong, former editor of a weekly supplement in the party’s China Youth Daily newspaper. "This looks like Hu Jintao is getting ready to take some pretty major steps."

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng was appointed acting party chief, Xinhua said.

The Communist Party’s chief anti-graft official said Tuesday that the corruption probe is progressing and others may be implicated.

"No matter who is involved, we will punish them severely," Gan Yisheng, general secretary of the party’s Discipline Inspection Commission, said at a Beijing news conference shown live on national television. "We exercise zero tolerance toward the violation of regulations and laws."

He wouldn’t provide any additional details of Chen’s case or say who else might be implicated.

The last Politburo member to be purged for corruption was former Beijing party secretary Chen Xitong, who resigned in 1995 and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He was quietly released on medical parole this year after serving eight years of his sentence. Chen is a common family name in China, and the two men are not related.

The Shanghai Party chief job is a traditional stepping stone to higher office, as well as one of the most powerful local government jobs in China.

Chen reportedly clashed with Premier Wen Jiabao over Beijing’s efforts to cool economic growth, lobbying instead for ambitious infrastructure projects for China’s wealthiest and most populous city.

Xinhua said the Politburo met Sunday to discuss a preliminary report on the investigation into Chen presented by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

With his protector Jiang now fading into political obscurity, Chen could face a lengthy jail term or other harsh punishments.

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Associated Press correspondents Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.