Ex-Chongqing official expelled from Party

He Ting, a former official in Chongqing, has been demoted and expelled from the Communist Party of China for serious disciplinary violations, the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog said on Monday.

He, 55, former director of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau and former deputy mayor, will no longer have a leadership role and was ordered into early retirement, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.

The standard age for a vice-ministerial-level official to retire from a leadership role is 60.

The commission said that He, a native of Shandong province, engaged in superstitious activities to get political promotions, resisted a disciplinary inspection and disobeyed austerity rules introduced by the central leadership in 2012 to reduce undesirable work practices.

“He seriously wasted public property, went to private clubs, frequently had banquets provided by private entrepreneurs and improperly used public vehicles and offices,” a statement from the authority said.

It also said He damaged the personnel system of the Party and improperly promoted officials, adding that he did not tell the truth when questioned by the commission. “In addition, he used his positions to gain profits for his relatives and their businesses, and he also improperly interfered in judicial affairs,” it said. His illicit profits have been ordered seized.

He joined the Party in 1982 and had been engaged in police work since 1983. He became Chongqing’s director of public security and deputy mayor in 2012.

Also on Monday, two other officials, Xia Chongyuan and Mu Huaping, were punished for violating Party discipline.

Xia, former head of the political department of the Ministry of Public Security, was demoted and placed on probation in the Party for two years.

Mu, another former deputy mayor of Chongqing, was also demoted and placed on probation in the Party for two years. In addition, he was removed from the position of delegate to the Party’s 18th National Congress.

YANG BO / CHINA NEWS SERVICE A sculptor refines her work during a rural skills competition in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Monday. The competition had 13 categories, including carpentry, clay sculpture and fruit pit sculpture.

He Ting