Former mayor Mu Suixin was sentenced to death which the court reprieved for two years while his deputy, Ma Xiangdong, was sentenced to be executed.

Mu, Ma and eight other senior officials were expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and removed from public positions.

Announcing the decision, the CPC Liaoning Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection (LPCDI) and the Provincial Supervision Department said the officials were implicated in the corruption case of Mu Suixin.

Jia Yongxiang, former president of the Shenyang Intermediate Court, was convicted of taking massive bribes and kickbacks to support a corrupt life, and wiped out big personal bills with public money.

Liu Shi, former procurator-general of the Shenyang People's Procuratorate, was accused of taking huge bribes and interfering with the investigation on Ma Xiangdong.

Jiao Meigui, former vice-president of the Shenyang Intermediate Court, took bribes from local gangsters and speculated with large amounts of public money.

Yesterday's announcement also confirmed the expulsion from the CPC and government employment of seven other senior officials. Among them are Zhou Wei, a former director of Shenyang Tobacco Monopoly Administration, and Liang Fuquan, former vice-president of the Shenyang Intermediate Court.

Xu Weiguo, a LPCDI official, said the punishment handed out to the corrupt senior officials demonstrated the determination and ability of the CPC and the Chinese Government to eliminate fraud within its ranks.

Anti-corruption is a common task facing the whole world and China will continue its resolute struggle against graft in the new century, a senior Chinese official said in Prague yesterday.

The pledge was made by Liu Liying, senior commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Supervision, at the 10th meeting of the International Anti-Corruption Conference, which opened on Sunday evening.

"The Chinese Government has always believed that to combat corruption and build a clean government is an important guarantee for the smooth development of reform, opening-up and modernization drive," she said.

Liu noted that as China focuses on cracking down on corrupt cases and deterring the trend of corruption, it should also make institutional innovations to reform the old systems, mechanisms and rules in order to prevent corruption from happening and get rid of it at its very root.

She stressed that three major jobs in the drive should be done well, namely, educating officials in self-discipline, investigating major cases and correcting malpractice in various departments and sectors.

Liu said though the form of corruption may vary from country to country, the essence was all the same, which desecrates the civilization and harms humanity.

(People's Daily 10/11/2001)