The former vice-governor of southwest China's Sichuan Province has been arrested for allegedly using a special government fund improperly.

A Sichuan Provincial People's Congress source said Li Dachang, who filled the role as vice-governor for seven years, had been detained by police.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate started investigating the 62-year-old earlier this month.

The fund was created at the start of 1997, when the Ministry of Finance allocated 100 million yuan (US$12 million) to the Export-Import Bank of China.

Loan

The bank then gave Sichuan International Cooperation Co Ltd a five-year, US$10 million special loan to cover losses from a contract that was terminated.

In 1993, the company signed a contract to build a power station in Uganda and all was well until 1996, when the dissatisfied owner terminated the contract.

After the money had made its way into the company's account, Li allegedly approved its use for other purposes, the congress source said.

Li is a member of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress. A graduate of the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, he worked as a professor and tutor for Doctor's degree candidates at the university's School of Economics and School of Finance and Taxation after stepping down from his government position in 2003.

In another development, local public prosecutors of Beijing have unearthed 16 cases involving 19 suspects linked to the corruption case of former top communications official Bi Yuxi, the Beijing News reported Tuesday.

Suspects

Among the 19 suspects, two are bureau-level cadres and another four are division-level, the report quoted sources with the People's Procuratorate of Beijing as saying.

Bi, 63, was the former head of the State-owned Capital Highway Development Corp. Arrested in August, he is alleged to have taken a huge amount of bribes and committed embezzlement.

The No 1 branch of the city's procuratorate is now checking the documents of Bi's case and will bring a public charge against him next month, possibly before the Chinese lunar New Year on February 9, says the newspaper.

The amount of money involved in Bi's case and the implicated 16 is more than 100 million yuan.

It was reported that local auditors became suspicious about Bi early last year when they checked the expenditure for the city's Fifth Ring Road project. Bi's company was entrusted with building the link.

The cost of the 98-kilometer-long ring road was found to be nearly 100 million yuan more than what was deemed reasonable.

(China Daily January 19, 2005)