Mayor of Shenzhen in corruption probe

• Source: The Global Times
• [07:23 June 09 2009]
• Comments

By Deng Jingyin

Xu Zongheng feels the heat during a press conference at last year’s session of the local People’s Congress. Photo: Wang Lei

Xu Zongheng, the mayor of Shenzhen and deputy secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, has been detained for “gravely violating the Party discipline,” the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

He is the second high-ranking official to be held on corruption allegations, after Chen Shaoji, chairman of a political advisory body and former police chief in Guangdong, was detained in April.

The Xinhua report did not say what Xu had done wrong, but Hong Kong media quoted unnamed sources as saying he was being investigated for allegedly taking bribes.

After initial interrogations in recent days, Xu allegedly admitted taking bribes for construction projects such as a subway, buildings for the Shenzhen Universiade, Yanba highway and a Taoyuan Village housing project, Ming Pao reported yesterday. Xu told the newspaper that a number of retired officials from the Shenzhen city government and several incumbent officials from the Guangdong provincial government were involved in the case.

One person spent tens of millions of yuan to successfully buy a government position, the paper quoted unnamed sources as saying.