CPC meeting confirms major officials' expulsion

BEIJING - The fifth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Thursday endorsed prior decisions to revoke the membership of 10 former officials, including Ling Jihua.

A former vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and head of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Ling was found to have seriously violated political codes of conduct and CPC rules, taking advantage of his posts to seek profits for others and accepting huge bribes.

Others on the expulsion list are Zhou Benshun, Yang Dongliang, Zhu Mingguo, Wang Min, Chen Chuanping, Qiu He, Yang Weize, Pan Yiyang and Yu Yuanhui, said a communique released after the four-day meeting. Their violations include abuse of power, bribery, embezzling public funds and leaking state secrets, according to previous statements from the top anti-graft body.

Previous decisions to strip them of their membership were made by the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee. According to the CPC constitution, a decision to expel a member or alternate member of the Central Committee must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote at a plenary meeting of the Party committee to which he or she belongs.

All the former senior officials were felled after graft-busters announced investigations into them amid China's sweeping anti-corruption campaign.

The communique noted that continued efforts must be made to fight corruption and strictly govern the Party so that officials "don't want to be corrupt, don't dare to be corrupt, and couldn't be corrupt even if they did."

The Party leadership also recently released new disciplinary regulations that help the anti-graft drive by listing playing golf and gluttony as violations for the first time.