The corruption case against former Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu has hurt the city's development, his successor said a day after the disgraced leader was stripped of all official positions.
'After Chen Liangyu's breaches of discipline and violations of the law occurred ... they had a serious negative impact on Shanghai's reform and development,' Xi Jinping , the city's new party secretary, was quoted as saying.
Authorities revoked Chen's party membership on Thursday and announced he would face criminal prosecution for allegedly embezzling from Shanghai's pension fund.
Mr Xi, formerly party chief of Zhejiang province, took over Shanghai's top job this year. Chen was removed in September.
Mr Xi vowed yesterday Shanghai would continue to pursue its goal of becoming an international centre of finance and trade.
Anti-corruption watchdog official Xia Zanzhong said the party needed to improve education, establish checks on power, strengthen supervision and increase the severity of punishments to more effectively fight corruption.