China’s Communist Party expels former provincial chief for graft

China has expelled a former party boss of northwestern Gansu province from the Communist Party, the country’s anticorruption agency said on Friday, after an investigation showed he received bribes and was involved in “superstitious activities”.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement that Wang Sanyun, who was appointed as Gansu’s party secretary in late 2011, had been “passive” in implementing the party’s key policies, seriously derelict in his duties and accepted bribes and gifts in exchange for offering promotions.

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The case has been referred to prosecutors, it said.

Wang, 64, had violated disciplinary regulations by frequenting “private clubs” and was involved in “superstitious activities” over a prolonged period of time, the statement said without elaborating.

It was not possible to reach Wang or a representative for comment and unclear if he has been allowed to retain a lawyer.

Wang was demoted from his post in Gansu in April to serve on a less prominent special committee of the national legislature, before he was detained and placed under investigation in July.

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President Xi Jinping has presided over a far-reaching anticorruption drive since coming to power in 2012, punishing more than a million party members, jailing top military figures and retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang, the most senior official toppled for corruption since 1949.