Nine officials and State-owned company executives involved in the multibillion-yuan pension fund graft scandal have been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and their posts, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.

The expelled officials include Zhu Junyi, former director of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security, Qin Yu, former deputy Party secretary of Shanghai's Baoshan District, and Sun Luyi, former deputy secretary-general of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, said the Shanghai Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Shanghai Commission of Supervision on Friday.

The three officials were accused of taking huge bribes and were condemned for moral decay and leading extravagant lives, according to the commission.

Also sacked were Wang Chengming and Han Guozhang, two officials from the Shanghai Electric Group, Wu Hongmei, former deputy director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the Shanghai Municipal Government, and Wang Guoxiong, former general manager of the Shanghai Industrial Investment Group.

Lu Qiwei, section chief of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labour and Social Security's fund management division, and Zhu Wenjin, section chief of the Shanghai Municipal Housing, Land and Resource Administration Bureau, were also expelled for their involvement in the scandal.

The case has been handed over to the judicial system and the nine officials may face criminal charges, the commission said.

(China Daily 03/03/2007 page3)