A water resources official has been sacked for embezzlement of public funds and taking huge amount of bribes in Shanxi Province, north China.

Sun Yanrong, former deputy director of the provincial water resources bureau, was also excelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and referred to judicial departments for prosecution.

According to the Shanxi Provincial Disciplinary Inspection Committee and the provincial procuratorate, Sun, by taking advantage of his official post, misappropriated 35 million yuan (about 5.14 million U.S. dollars) of public funds for business operation, from which he obtained 591,910 yuan in personal gains.

Sun was also found to have taken 3.06 million yuan worth of bribery goods in return for helping others to win bidding for a local rural power grid upgrading project, according to sources with the provincial disciplinary committee on Wednesday.

The provincial disciplinary committee has issued a notice urging local CPC organs and members to be vigilant against corruption and to be clean-fingered.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2009)