Senior legislator expelled from CPC, indicted by prosecutors

Bai Enpei, then Communist Party secretary of Yunnan province, speaks at a meeting in Kunming city, Southwest Chinas Yunnan province in this?April 15, 2010 file photo. [Photo/IC]

BEIJING - Bai Enpei, a senior legislator from China's top legislature, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office following a graft investigation.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) made the announcement Tuesday.

Bai is former deputy head of the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature. He is also former secretary of the CPC Yunnan Provincial Committee.

The CCDI investigation found that Bai took advantage of his post to seek profits for others and accepted "a huge amount in bribes."

Bai seriously violated CPC discipline and is suspected of breaking the law, the CCDI said in the statement.

Bai has been under investigation by the CCDI since late August.

Also Tuesday, the Supreme People's Procuratorate announced that Bai has been placed under "coercive measures" and indicted by prosecutors for bribery.

According to China's criminal procedure law, coercive measures include summons by force, bail, residential surveillance, detention and arrest.