China's former justice minister Gao Changli (
The report in the Wen Wei Po, (
Chinese officials insist he left for health reasons.
But the Wen Wei Po made no mention of swirling reports that Gao was under investigation for wrongdoing.
"It is understood Minister of Justice Gao Changli has been dismissed," the newspaper said without quoting any sources.
A Justice Ministry spokesman in Beijing yesterday stuck with his statement, first made last Friday, that Gao had left his post for health reasons.
"He isn't the minister now," the spokesman said. "We heard he left because of health reasons. We didn't hear anything about him being dismissed."
There has been no mention in the Chinese state media of the departure of Gao, 63, who was overseeing pivotal reforms of the country's underdeveloped and corruption-ridden legal system.
China is waging a war on official corruption that has snared a number of senior level officials.
The Wen Wei Po said Gao had been succeeded by Zhang Fusen (
However, a spokeswoman for the State Council, or Cabinet, said Zhang had been transferred to the justice ministry, not as minister, but as Communist Party Secretary.
"There is currently no justice minister," the spokeswoman said.
She also cited health reasons for Gao's departure and said he had resigned.
Gao spent five years as vice president of the Supreme People's Court. He was one of many reform-minded technocrats Premier Zhu Rongji (
Efforts were made to open up China's judicial system during Gao's tenure, including encouraging people to attend court hearings, televising trials and opening case files to the public.
Last month, in response to charges of rampant nepotism in the judiciary, China's top courts announced bans on families of judges from running law firms in the same jurisdiction or conducting business transactions with the court.
Gao is now the second minister to leave the Zhu cabinet under a cloud.
Water Resources Minister Niu Maosheng (
China is directing its anti-corruption campaign at ever more senior levels of Communist officialdom, although ordinary people believe top rungs of power remain untouchable.
Several senior officials have been executed for corruption this year amid repeated warnings by top leaders that graft threatens the Communist Party's grip on power.
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