Top China banker fired in bribe scandal

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Communist Party officials have fired a senior Chinese banker for taking bribes, party officials in Beijing said Wednesday.

Wang Yi, vice president of the state-run China Development Bank, was removed from his official post and stripped of his Communist Party membership for what the party's disciplinary watchdog group called "severe violation of disciplines and the law," Xinhua, the state-run Chinese news agency, reported.

Investigators say they found that Wang had abused his office by turning profits for others and accepting kickbacks from them, the Chinese Communist Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.

The firing of Wang is especially noteworthy because he had previously served as a vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's stock watchdog, Xinhua said.

The China Development Bank was set up in 1994 and is mainly meant to finance government projects.