China sacks vice minister for environment for graft

A former vice environment minister in China was today expelled from the ruling Communist Party for corruption, the first senior official in the ministry to be implicated for graft.
Zhang Lijun, 63, vice minister of environmental protection, is accused of accepting bribes, seeking profits for others, abuse of power and misusing public funds, a statement from the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s Central Commission for Disciplinary Inspection said.
Some of these violations are criminal acts, it added.
The former senior leading cadre of the CPC "has lost his ideal, seriously violated the Party code of conduct and continued with his corrupt behavior even after the 18th CPC National Congress," the statement read.

Zhang's ill-gotten gains will be confiscated and his case transferred to judicial organs. An investigation centering on Zhang was launched in July.
He is the first senior official in the ministry to be implicated in graft. Earlier this month, Xiong Yuehui, head of the ministry's technological standards division, was also expelled from CPC for corruption.
Thousands of officials have been punished in the last two years of corruption in the massive anti-graft campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping.