A top ruling Chinese Communist Party official, who reportedly criticised President Xi Jinping's policies, has been dismissed from the party ahead of his prosecution for corruption and "severe" violation of "political discipline", an official statement said today.
Huang Xingguo, former acting Party chief and mayor of Tianjin Municipality, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office, the Party's discipline agency said.
He was also blamed for the massive 2015 explosion at the Tianjin port in which 162 people were killed and hundreds injured.
"Huang severely violated political discipline and the political code of conduct," CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.
Huang, 62, made groundless criticisms of the Party's key policies, sabotaged the CPC's centralisation and unity, complied with Party rules in public while opposing them in private, practised superstitious activities, interfered in details of his case and confronted an organisational probe, the CPC statement said.
It outlined a litany of violations on Huang's part, including giving out positions and other favours, accepting huge bribes of property and money, conniving with relatives, allowing them to use his influence to seek profits; taking advantage of his post to seek profits for his son and others; arranging an official entourage larger than allowed; and failing to supervise people around him.
"Huang was found to have disintegrated politically, grown greedy economically and become depraved in life," the statement said, adding that the nature of his violations was very serious.
Huang's actions caused "very bad influence, seriously undermining the political ecosystem in Tianjin and damaging the cause of the Party and its image," it said.
His ill-gotten gains will be confiscated, and his case will be transferred to the judiciary, the statement said.
Huang is also the acting Party chief of the port city, located close to Beijing and carries lot of political weight for its proximity to the capital and as an economic hub.
He was made mayor of Tianjin in 2007 and took on the additional role of acting party secretary in 2014 but he had not yet been permanently appointed - an unusually long time in provincial politics, Hong Kong-based 'South China Morning Post' reported.
The anti-graft probe was announced 13 months after a deadly warehouse blast in Tianjin for which Huang previously said he bore "inexcusable" responsibility.
Huang is among thousands of "tigers and flies" who faced investigations for corruption in Xi's massive anti-graft drive in the last three years amid allegations that it is also being effectively used to purge the party and military of elements hostile to him as he has emerged as the most powerful leader, heading the party, the government and the military.
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