A former deputy-governor who accepted cash, watches and diamond rings as bribes has become the most senior official ever to be put to death in 50 years of communist rule in China.
The execution of Hu Changqing, who was also deputy director of the State Bureau of Religious Affairs from the last four years, was announced yesterday, just three days after the Prime Minister, Mr Zhu Rongji, pledged in a speech to the Chinese parliament that the government would crack down hard on corruption at all levels.
Mr Hu paid the ultimate price for his crimes against a background of serious corruption scandals involving senior cadres which have dangerously undermined the authority of the party, and his execution is clearly a warning that the party is serious. The official took bribes totalling 5.44 million yuan (£550,000) to approve construction projects, resolve bank loans, obtain business licences and help people move to Hong Kong. Mr Hu was vice-governor of the province of Jiangxi in southern China until his arrest in December.
Before his trial he was branded by the Chinese press as an "insatiably avaricious official who traded power for money".
In December the official news agency Xinhua said that Mr Hu "is morally decadent and leads a dissolute and degenerate life: his case is disgusting". The whistle was apparently blown by Mr Zhou Xuehua, the owner of a private enterprise who had already been arrested on unspecified charges.
The vice-governor allegedly extorted from Mr Zhou and seven other persons a huge sum of money plus £150,000 worth of high-grade watches, diamond rings, and other valuables.
"All major cases, no matter which department or who is involved, must be thoroughly investigated and corrupt officials must be severely punished," Mr Zhu told the National People's Congress (NPC) on Sunday.
The official Communist Party newspaper, the People's Daily, said in a commentary due to be published today, that the execution proved no one was above the law. "For such a flagrant criminal, only the death penalty is sufficient to safeguard national law, satisfy popular indignation, rectify the party work style, and fight against corruption."
Mr Hu was sentenced last month in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi Province and lost an appeal Tuesday. How he was executed was not revealed, but China uses either a bullet in the back of the head or lethal injection.