Authorities in Shenzhen City confirmed Tuesday that Xu Zongheng, former mayor of Shenzhen, a boomtown in Guangdong Province, was stripped of his membership to the provincial people's congress on Monday for his role in a financial scandal.

The standing committee of the fourth Shenzhen Municipal People's Congresses held its 31st meeting Monday and discussed a proposal to strip Xu of his membership to the 11th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, the provincial legislature, said a spokesman of the standing committee of Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress.

A resolution was adopted Monday regarding Xu's removal from the provincial legislature.

"The standing committee of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress made the decision of kicking Xu out from Guangdong Provincial People's Congress in accordance with Articles 45 and 47 of China's Election Law of National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses," said the spokesman.

Xu, 54, who became mayor of Shenzhen in 2005, was removed from his post for "serious disciplinary violations," in June.

According to media reports, Xu was implicated in a case involving China's richest person, Huang Guangyu, chairman of Gome, China's largest home appliance retailing chain. The latter was detained by Beijing police last November for allegedly manipulating share trading, a charge being investigated by the Ministry of Public Security. Huang owns a third of Beijing-based Gome with estimated assets of 43 billion yuan (6.3 billion U.S. dollars).

Xu's case is being handled "according to procedures".

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)