A Chinese lawmaker has been arrested in connection with the
murder of his mistress earlier this month.
Duan Yihe, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jinan
Municipal People's Congress, allegedly hired his nephew-in-law, a
Jinan policeman, to plant the car bomb that killed Liu Haiping on
July 9, according to a source with the Shandong Provincial Public
Security Department.
Police found remnants of the bomb in Liu's car after the blast,
which killed her on the spot.
Duan, 61, a deputy to the current tenth National People's Congress, began an intimate
relationship with Liu, 30 years his younger, in 1993 when she
worked at a local hotel, he admitted to the police.
With Duan's help, Liu secured employment in the Jinan Financial
Bureau and then the Municipal Bureau of State Land and Resources.
Additionally, her two sisters also secured better-paying jobs.
An investigation revealed that Liu, who owns three houses, has
more than 2 million yuan (US$263,000) in personal assets, but the
source of the properties is still unclear.
Duan had been trying to split up with Liu since 1999 due to what
he termed as "conflicts" in their relationship, but Liu
refused.
Duan told police he had just wanted to arrange a traffic
accident with the help of his nephew-in-law Chen Zhi, an officer
with the Jinan Municipal Public Security Bureau, so that Liu would
"lose her ability to think.”
On July 9, Chen planted explosives in Liu's car and set off the
blast by remote control when Liu was driving. Chen has since been
detained.
A taxi, which crashed into Liu's car, was engulfed in flames,
but the driver survived the explosion with some injuries.
On Monday, Duan was stripped of his membership of the national
legislature at a conference of the Standing Committee of the
Shandong Provincial People's Congress.
He has also been expelled from the Communist Party of China and
removed from Party posts.
Duan, who has been working in the CPC's organization departments
at county, municipal, and provincial levels since 1976, was
promoted to chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jinan
municipal legislature in 2001.
The exposure of Duan's case comes in the wake of news that 95
Party officials in north China's Shanxi Province have been punished for their
involvement in the forced labor scandal at local brick kilns.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)