China executes highest-ranking official for graft

BEIJING - A senior Chinese legislator who took nearly $5 million in bribes in hopes of marrying his mistress was executed yesterday in a highly publicized case meant to convince an angry public that communist leaders are stamping out rampant corruption.

Cheng Kejie, vice chairman of China's national legislature, became the highest-ranking figure put to death for corruption since the communists came to power in 1949.

Hours after the execution was announced, portions of the 66-year-old Cheng's trial in July were shown on national television, adding to a propaganda campaign meant to show official determination to attack abuses at even the highest levels.

Cheng was convicted of extorting $4.9 million while he was the governor of Guangxi, a poor southern region. Earlier reports said that beginning in 1992, he took payoffs for land deals, building contracts, promotions and allocations of subsidized commodities.

The case illustrated the pervasive corruption that is costing China's struggling economy heavily and undermining public acceptance of communist rule. A recent series of unusually candid reports by China's auditor general accuse officials of stealing or squandering billions of dollars in a country with an average per capita income of about $700.

Almost daily, Chinese state media announce officials being punished for corruption, though most are low-ranking. More than 132,000 officials received penalties for misconduct last year that range up to death sentences, according to the China Daily newspaper. Cheng's case featured prominently in a Beijing museum exhibition on economic crime.

Cheng was put to death by the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing after China's highest court rejected his second appeal, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It quoted the Sept. 7 ruling by the Supreme People's Court as saying Cheng ''severely damaged the normal work order of government agencies and created an extremely pernicious influence on society.''

A commentary in Friday editions of the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily said his case shows the party ''is completely capable of eliminating cancers invading into the body of the party,'' according to Xinhua. It called the case a ''warning to party members and officials.''

According to the official account, Cheng's partner in crime was his married lover, Li Ping. Both planned to divorce their spouses and marry each other. Li has been sentenced to life in prison for handling Cheng's bribes. The Supreme People's Court, which upheld her sentence last week, said she did so to keep him free of suspicion.

Xinhua didn't say how Cheng was executed. China has usually used a bullet to the head or neck. Last month, it ordered nationwide use of lethal injection, but said firing squads still would be used.

China's ruling elite also has been shaken by a scandal that went to trial this week in closed courtrooms in the southeastern province of Fujian. An unknown number of police, customs and other officials have been implicated in a multibillion-dollar smuggling ring.

Xinhua also carried rare mention Thursday of a bribery investigation against Vice Minister of Public Security Li Jizhou. The remarks by Deputy Procurator-General Zhao Dengju were the first public acknowledgment of Li's fate, 21 months after he was quietly removed from office.