Shanghai city government strips deputy secretary of post

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Shanghai authorities said on Wednesday the deputy secretary of the city government had been removed from his post, as China widens an anti-corruption crackdown on senior officials.

The Shanghai government posted the brief announcement on its website www.shanghai.gov.cn, without elaborating.

Deputy Secretary Dai Haibo, a former deputy head of Shanghai's free trade zone, was investigated by China's antigraft agency last month.

Chinese President Xi Jiping has made the fight against endemic corruption a central theme of his administration, vowing to take on both high-flying "tigers", or senior officials, and lower-ranking "flies".

On Friday the government said prosecutors had charged former domestic security chief Zhou Yongkang with bribery, abuse of power and intentional disclosure of state secrets.

Zhou is the most senior Chinese official to be officially implicated in a graft scandal since the Communist Party took power in 1949.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.