If it's true that hell has no fury like a woman scorned, imagine the trouble 11 angry mistresses could cause.

In the case of a former top political adviser in Shaanxi Province, it was enough to cost him his job and put him under investigation for bribery and dereliction of duty.

Pang Jiayu, 63, has been fired from his government post for allegedly taking about 480,000 yuan (US$63,675) in bribes and illegally approving the establishment of a securities company that later ran up debts topping 310 million yuan, among other improprieties, the People's Daily reported on its Website on Thursday.

His downfall came at the hands of a former mistress who rounded up the others to complain about Pang's activities, figuring there was strength in numbers, the article said.

The ringleader, identified only by the pseudonym Zeng Qian, was angry because her husband was convicted of financial crimes and sentenced to death in a scheme that involved Pang, the article said. Pang promised to use his influence to get the husband a lighter sentence in exchange for throwing the investigators off Pang's track, according to the woman. The court was apparently not in on the deal.

The woman said she met Pang in 1994 when he was elected mayor of Baoji. Zeng's husband, Li Simin, also an alias, who was then one of Pang's subordinates, reportedly had slighted Pang, and Pang held a grudge against him.

On New Year's Day 1995, Pang organized a meeting of Baoji's government officials in a mountain resort and encouraged them to bring their wives. However, after dinner, Li was recalled by the city government to Baoji to handle "an emergency."

Then Pang allegedly entered Zeng's hotel room at the resort and handed her a photo showing Li visiting a prostitute, a liaison he reportedly set up himself.

Zeng broke into tears over her unfaithful husband, the report said. Pretending to console her, Pang poured her a cup of tea spiked with a sleep-inducing drug.

When Zeng woke up, she found a naked Pang sleeping beside her, the report said. The pair then began an affair, it said.

In March 1998, Pang was promoted to the post of Baoji's Party chief. To support his growing army of mistresses, he helped open an investment company and put it under Li's name and management. Pang reportedly also made the husbands of two other mistresses top executives.

In May 2003, soon after Pang was named vice chairman of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Baoji citizens complained to the central government that the illegal operation of the company led to the loss of 90 million yuan in Treasury bonds.

A week after the complaint, authorities arrested Li and the two other company executives.

When Zeng consulted Pang, the official instructed her to persuade Li to shoulder all the responsibility for the wrongdoing, she said. Pang promised the woman he would use his connections to make sure Li received only life imprisonment.

Li pleaded guilty but was given a death sentence. The other two executives were given terms of 16 years and 10 years.

Zeng encouraged the wives of the two executives and Pang's eight other mistresses to expose his wrongdoings.

(Shanghai Daily September 9, 2007)