Zhu Zhigang, a former senior legislator of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, has been stripped of his membership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), the CPC disciplinary watchdog said Friday.

Zhu received the punishment for "severe violation of disciplines and the law", said the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the ruling party's anti-graft body.

Investigations showed Zhu abused his power to seek gains for others and accepted large amounts of money in return, said the CCDI, without disclosing the sum involved.

He was also found to have taken advantage of his post to make profits for his relatives' business activities, and buy houses or apartments at discounted prices and accept such properties as presents from others, the CCDI said.

Zhu had been transferred to judicial organs and could face criminal charges. His illicit gains were confiscated, according to the CCDI.

Zhu was expelled from the NPC last December, and two months earlier, the NPC Standing Committee endorsed Zhu's resignation from the positions of NPC Standing Committee member, director of the Budgetary Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, and vice chairman of the NPC Financial and Economic Affairs Committee.

Zhu, born in May 1950 in Beijing, was elected an NPC deputy from northwestern Shaanxi Province. He used to be the Vice Minister of Finance.

(Xinhua News Agency June 12, 2009)