A lawmaker and businessman in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province who is accused of raping a pregnant TV anchorwoman was yesterday suspended from his posts for "discipline violations," Xinhua news agency reported.

Wang Dechun accepts an interview.

Sun Dejiang, a deputy to the National People's Congress and general manager of a state-owned company in Shuangcheng City, has been removed from his posts for "violations in handling state-owned assets," which are not directly linked to the rape allegations, the city's disciplinary watchdog said.

Last month, Wang Dechun, a former anchorwoman with Shuangcheng TV Channel, made online accusations that Sun had forced her into a long-term sexual relationship and had raped her when she was seven months pregnant.

She also accused Sun of selling state-owned assets and charging fees from residents to help them forge retirement documents so they could retire early.

The accusations sparked a probe by the city government and yesterday the investigation team announced that it had found "discipline violations" in Sun's handling of state-owned assets and arranging retirement papers as outlined in Wang's online claims.

But it said it could not confirm whether any rape or sexual harassment had taken place as Wang had not responded to their calls. However, the investigation was continuing, Xinhua said.

In an interview with Beijing Times newspaper, Wang said she hadn't responded to calls from the investigation team because she couldn't go to Shuangcheng as she was worried about her personal security.

Wang, a 42-year-old married woman, told the newspaper that she first met Sun in 1996 during an interview. Sun tried to pursue a relationship with her in various ways, such as inviting her to dinner.

At one of these dinner dates she said she got drunk and Sun had sex with her in his car. Wang said that it was in the winter of 1999 that Sun raped her when she was pregnant.

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