Shangcai County, one of the most AIDS-afflicted counties in central China's Henan Province, has been dealt another blow when its former head, Yang Songquan, was arrested on bribery charges, a local anti-corruption official revealed yesterday.

Former secretary of the Shangcai County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Yang was discovered to have taken bribes over a river treatment project, said Ding Lei, director of the anti-corruption department of the Zhumadian Municipal People's Procuratorate.

But, Ding added, there is no evidence to suggest Yang embezzled money allocated by the central and provincial governments for AIDS prevention and treatment.

Yang was arrested on August 4, 2006. Investigations into Yang are ongoing, according to Ding. Yang was sacked from office in August 2005 following a great number of complaints from local people, pointing to the county's sluggish social development and economic torpor.

Investigations have so far indicated that Yang accepted a bribe of 100,000 yuan (US$12,500) in relation to the Xiaohong River treatment project, said Ding. Yang is also found to have received monetary gifts both at his father's funeral and at his daughter's wedding, actions violating the self-disciplinary regulations imposed on leading Party cadres.

(Xinhua News Agency August 18, 2006)