Beijing sack vice mayor for corruption-Xinhua

BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) Beijing's vice mayor, who is in charge of construction for the 2008 Olympics, has been dismissed from office for corruption and bad morals, the official Chinese Xinhua news agency said.

The agency said that the Beijing Municipal People's Congress had decided to remove Liu Zhihua from his post after being found guilty of wrongdoings, which were ''quite serious'' and had ''baneful social influence''.

China's Ministry of Supervision has put Liu's case on file for further investigation and prosecution, it said, without giving further details.

Liu, who enjoyed a ranking equivalent to vice minister in the government hierarchy, was in charge of urban planning, construction and sports activities in the Chinese capital which has undergone a massive transformation ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games.

The 57-year-old also headed the Engineering and Construction Office for the Olympics.

A government source told Reuters that Liu had been ordered to confess his errors at a certain time and in a specific place, a phenomenon known as ''shuang gui'' in Chinese.

''He has been ordered to take such steps because of corruption,'' the government source said. ''He is in charge of Olympic construction projects,'' the source added.

Liu, who was born in China's northeastern province of Liaoning, began his career as a civil servant in the late 1960s and previously served as a departmental director within the labour ministry.

In the mid-1990s, China jailed former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong for corruption although many believe he was taken down by then president and party chief Jiang Zemin amid a power struggle.

China's latest dismissal of a senior party member comes as the authorities struggles to stamp out official corruption.

Nearly 115,000 members of China's Community Party -- almost two percent -- were punished last year for corruption and other offences, Xinhua has said previously.

Reuters AY VP1007