Official expelled from Party

A former senior official in Jiangsu province has been expelled from the Communist Party of China, 10 months after he was placed under investigation on corruption charges.

Zhao Shaolin, 69, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangsu provincial Committee and secretary-general of the provincial Party committee, retired eight years ago from his post at vice-minister level.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate detained Zhao and filed a case against him on Friday, it announced.

Zhao began his career as a technician in a machinery factory in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, and later worked his way quickly up through the official ranks in the region.

He became the mayor and later the Party chief of Jiangyin for five years from 1992 and was the secretary-general of the provincial Party Committee for eight years.

After retiring from politics in 2006, he became vice-president of the nonprofit China Aging Development Foundation until he was held for investigation in October.

Among a number of charges, he was found to have assisted his son in illicit business operations, offered bribes and been fraudulent in purchasing foreign exchange.

Zhao was involved in his son's high-end club, using it for private gatherings and inviting senior officials to attend, breaking Party rules and the call for austerity made in late 2012, said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in a statement on Friday.

His son Zhao Jin, a real estate developer in Tianjin, was detained in July last year and is under investigation with other top executives from his companies, which allegedly resulted in his father being investigated.

According to a report in Caixin magazine, Zhao Jin was alleged to have evaded taxes in real estate development in a number of areas, including Beijing, Tianjin, and Jiangsu and Shandong provinces.

zhang_yi@chinadaily.com.cn