Four officials from Shanghai, including a former chairman of a football club, have been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and will now face criminal charges in the latest corruption scandal to be exposed in the city.

A document released by the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC announced that Yin Guoyuan, former deputy director of the Shanghai housing, land and resources administration, had abused his position to pursue interests on the behalf of others and had accepted bribes during his tenure.

The document said Yin had accepted bribes in the form of cash, shares, property and cars and said the value of the bribes was "very large", without giving the specific details.

Chen Jinxian, head of Shanghai's Changning District, Ling Baoheng, head of the Shanghai Municipal State Assets Commission and Yu Zhifei, deputy general manager of Shanghai International Circuit Co. Ltd and chairman of Shanghai Shenhua Soccer Club, were the other officials expelled.

Chen was found to have abused his position to seek gains for others and accepted bribes while serving as the deputy Party secretary and the administrative chief of Changning District.

Ling Baoheng accepted bribes during his tenure as the chief of the Shanghai Municipal State Assets Commission and his three previous official posts.

Yu Zhifei, who also served as general manager of Shang International Circuit Development Co. Ltd, is said to have taken advantage of being chairman of the board of Shanghai Shenhua Soccer Club. He is said to have embezzled funds from the soccer club, and another international trade company affiliated to the club, to pay off personal debts and buy a house.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2007)