Pang Jiayu, vice chairman of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in northwestern Shaanxi, the province's top advisory body, has been dismissed on graft allegations.

Pang, 63, has also been expelled from the CPPCC, according to information from the standing committee of the Shaanxi Provincial CPPCC Committee.

Pang was earlier expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), according to the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party's anti-corruption watchdog.

An investigation showed Pang took 480,000 yuan (US$61,697) in bribes from 1997 to 1999 and he had "illegally approved" the establishment of a security companies, which had run up losses of 316 million yuan (US$40.6 million), when he was head of the CPC in Baoji city, the provincial CPC committee said in a statement.

Pang was also accused of dereliction of duty when he was in charge of a reservoir pipeline project, which had suffered six explosions causing losses of 10 million yuan (US$1.29 million), said the statement.

In addition, Pang had maintained an affair with a married woman, which has "exerted a baneful social influence", said the statement.

Pang was born in April 1944 in Jiutai City of northeastern Jilin Province. He had worked in the government of Baoji City in Shanxi Province since 1988. He was appointed to the post of vice chairman of the provincial CPPCC committee in January 2003.

(Xinhua News Agency February 6, 2007)