China anti-graft probe spreads to Beijing

BEIJING, Oct 26: More than 300 investigators have descended on Beijing as a government crackdown on corruption spreads from China's financial hub of Shanghai to the capital, two sources with knowledge of the probe said today.

The Beijing investigation follows the dismissal last month of Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, who also lost his seat in the Communist Party's decision-making Politburo making him the most senior Chinese official toppled for corruption in a decade.

The party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection launched the investigation, the sources said. Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan has dismissed as ''nonsense'' media reports that the Chinese capital has been targeted by a massive corruption probe.

''The message has been relayed to the Beijing city government,'' one government source told Reuters, requesting anonymity because Chinese civil servants are barred from speaking to foreign media without authorisation.

Alarmed by chronic corruption which has spawned social unrest, President Hu Jintao has intensified a crackdown on corruption, rooting out abuse and at the same time enforcing loyalty.

Reuters