The "morally bankrupt" former head of China's statistics bureau, responsible for calculating the country's economic figures, has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party for actions including "superstitious activities" and "insatiably" trading power for sex, a watchdog said Friday. Wang Baoan headed the National Bureau of Statistics until January, when an inquiry into him was announced just hours after he spoke at a press conference in Beijing on China's economy.
In a statement on its website, the ruling party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), its internal anti-corruption watchdog, said it had found Wang "completely lacks political beliefs". He had "chronically engaged in superstitious activities, seriously violated political discipline and political rules, and in major issues has expressed views contrary to the CPC Central Committee", it said.