China: Nanjing mayor sacked in latest round of corruption crackdown

Ji Jianye removed for 'suspected serious disciplinary violations', two days after it was announced he was being investigated

theguardian.com, Reuters in Beijing, Saturday 19 October 2013

Ji Jianye: sacked. Photograph: Rex/Imaginechina

The mayor of the Chinese city of Nanjing has been sacked, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday, the latest move in a nationwide crackdown on corruption.

Ji Jianye was stood down two days after it was announced he was being investigated for serious breaches of the law.

Ji "has been removed from his post for suspected serious disciplinary violations", Xinhua said, shorthand the government generally uses to describe corruption.

An earlier report in the online version of the official People's Daily newspaper said Ji was under investigation over "economic problems", a similar euphemism.

The People's Daily online report, citing other Chinese media reports, said Ji's case might have involved some 20m yuan (£2m).

President Xi Jinping, who took office in March, has called corruption a threat to the ruling Communist party's survival and vowed to go after powerful "tigers" as well as lowly "flies".

The crackdown has so far netted a handful of senior officials, among them former executives from oil giant PetroChina.