Senior Shanghai official held in scandal
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-10-24 19:30
The head of a commission supervising state-owned companies in Shanghai has
joined more than 50 people detained in the city's snowballing corruption
scandal, government sources said on Monday.
Ling Baoheng, director of the city government's
Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was detained in
Shanghai's pension corruption scandal. [file
photo] |
Ling Baoheng, director of the city
government's Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was detained at
the weekend as Chinese President Hu Jintao pledged publicly to clean up
government.
Also held was one of Ling's deputies, Wu Hongmei, two government sources told
Reuters. A city government spokesman said he had not heard of the detentions,
while an official at Ling's offices said nobody there could comment.
Beijing has sent more than 100 anti-corruption investigators to Shanghai to
investigate money reportedly siphoned off from the city's 10 billion yuan ($1.25
billion) social security fund for illicit loans and investments.
Hu appealed on Sunday to the party's 70 million members to show solidarity.
Later in the day, Hu attended a meeting of the International Association of
Anti-Corruption Authorities.
"We are stepping up efforts to improve the rule of law and a culture for
clean and honest government, and strengthen the checks and supervision on
power," Hu told about 900 delegates.
Alarmed by chronic corruption and social unrest, Hu is steering the party
towards reforms that would make officials more accountable.
As head of Shanghai's state assets commission, Ling oversaw the running of
some of China's biggest firms worth billions of dollars. One was Shanghai
Electric Group, China's largest power gear maker, several officials of which
have been implicated in the scandal.
The investigation has jolted the city's red-hot property market, by
threatening to expose illicit land speculation. But it has not damaged overall
business confidence -- Shanghai's stock market hit a five-year high last
week.
|
