Senior officials reprimanded after nursing center deaths

Two senior officials have been reprimanded for neglect of their duties that contributed to the death of people in a nursing center in South China's Guangdong province, the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on Monday.

Zheng Zhentao, former leader of the inspection team sent by the CCDI to the National Audit Office has been given a Party warning and had a big mistake recorded in his government work record, the CCDI said in a joint statement with the National Supervisory Commission that was posted on their website.

Deng Haiguang, former vice-chairman of the Guangdong Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference has had a mistake recorded in his government work record.

The CCDI said that when serving as mayor and Party chief of Shaoguan, Guangdong, Zheng was accountable for the death of vulnerable people in a nursing center in Xinfeng county, Shaoguan.

It said Deng was in charge of civil administration work in Xinfeng county, and when the deaths happened, he didn't pay much attention to them or take effective measures to deal with them, causing great harm to the Party and people's vital interests, and bringing a bad impact to society.

Media reports at the time said multiple people died in the nursing center between late 2016 and early last year. The exact number was not released.