China Communist Party expels Shanghai ex-chief

BEIJING, July 26 (Reuters) Shanghai's disgraced former Communist boss Chen Liangyu has been expelled from the Party and handed over to judicial authorities, state television said today.

Chen was toppled last September in an official probe into the misuse of money in the city's social security fund.

The report said Chen's case had had a ''very negative impact'' on the image of the Communist Party.

The snowballing scandal implicated more than a dozen senior officials and businessmen.

Chen, the first member of the party's decision-making politburo to be purged for corruption since 1995, did not turn up in Beijing in March for the annual session of parliament.

China's ruling Communist Party has vowed to take steps to root out corrupt officials ahead of a key meeting later this year to ensure that tainted members cannot rise any further.

Corruption has become rampant since market reforms opened the economy in the 1980s, and the ruling Communist Party has warned time and again that it could threaten its rule if not curbed.

REUTERS PD HS1750