Liu Zhijun accused of 'degenerate morals' and taking bribes as ministry's influence continues to wane after Wenzhou crash

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

China's ruling Communist party has expelled a former railways minister who oversaw a massive expansion of high-speed rail links, accusing him of taking bribes and fostering corruption throughout the railway system.

The announcement came over a year after Liu Zhijun was dismissed from his government post amid the allegations.

The party's discipline body said Liu had taken huge bribes and abused his authority to help a private businessman make illegal profits, according to the website of the official party People's Daily. The paper also accused him of "degenerate morals", a term that often refers to sexual liaisons and the keeping of mistresses.

Liu's case file will be forwarded to prosecutors, who will formally charge him. Getting expelled from the Communist party virtually guarantees a conviction.

Liu was railways minister for eight years, far exceeding the usual term for a minister. He accumulated vast wealth and power while in office, especially during a rush to extend the bullet train network nationwide.

High-speed rail was a national prestige project aimed at linking its far-flung regions as well as showing off China's technological prowess and rising wealth.

But the bullet train network came in for criticism when a crash last July killed 40 people in the eastern city of Wenzhou. After the accident, the government was forced to lower the speed of trains amid criticism that the system was dangerously fast and too expensive.

Allegations of kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and other malpractice has circulated around Liu for years, but the ministry's influence and his own personal authority seemed to shield him from formal accusations.

Since the crash, the government has limited the railways ministry's powers, cutting back on investment as funding grew tight and putting railways-related court cases in most regions under the jurisdiction of civilian courts rather than that of the railway court system.

Bidding on railway projects was also recently brought into line with procedures for other government public works.

State media said the move was intended to ensure fairness and transparency, and to prevent officials from meddling in project bidding or engaging in influence-peddling or collusion.

The latest reports gave no word on the fate of another senior official, Zhang Shuguang, an engineer in charge of research and development of the country's high-speed railways, who was removed alongside Liu for unnamed disciplinary violations.