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Cao Jianliao has been accused of “having adulterous relationships with multiple women” and taking "especially huge" bribes. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Party expels former Guangzhou deputy mayor for alleged multiple adulterous relationships

Cao Jianliao has also been accused of taking "especially huge" bribes following a seven-month-long investigation, the Guangdong anti-graft agency reported

After seven months of investigation, Cao Jianliao, Guangzhou’s former deputy mayor, has been expelled from the party, the Guangdong anti-graft agency said on its website this afternoon.

Cao has been accused of “having adulterous relationships with multiple women”.

The word “adultery” first entered the lexicon of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in June, when it announced  that Dai Chunning, the former vice-president of China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation, had been expelled from the party for suspected corruption.

Cao is the first government official to be charged with having “multiple” adulterous relations.

Party authorities used to describe extra-marital affairs with the words “morally degenerate”, “decadent lifestyle”, or “having improper relationships with women”.

Bo Xilai, the sacked Chongqing party boss, was said to have been “keeping or having improper sexual relationships with several women”.

Last month, the former Guangzhou party boss, Wan Qingliang, was removed from his post. Wan was seen as a rising political star, governing the metropolis of 12 million people, which is traditionally a stepping stone to higher positions.

The report on Guangdong’s anti-graft agency website said Cao had taken bribes several times during his term, and that the total amount involved was “especially huge”.

Born in 1955, Cao’s political career has been based only in Guangzhou. In 2007, he became the deputy mayor of Guangzhou.

Cao was in charge of the city’s economic-related matters, such as trade and foreign affairs.

He was placed under investigation last December.

Two other Guangdong officials – Tu Yaosheng, former head of the Guangdong Second Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, and Li Heping, deputy general manager of Guangdong Guangye Assets Management, have also been stripped of the party’s membership, the Guangdong anti-graft agency said today.

Their cases have been transferred to the judicial authorities.

Additional reporting by Andrea Chen

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