Beijing promises clean Olympics
BEIJING (AFP) – China will work harder to ensure the 2008 Olympics are corruption-free, organizers said yesterday, following the sacking of a Beijing vice mayor who was heavily involved in preparations. «We are paying a lot of attention to our anti-corruption work in order to ensure an honest and clean Olympic Games,» Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games spokesman Sun Weide told AFP. «We will strengthen supervision in an effort to make the Games organization open and transparent.» Sun was speaking after the government announced on Sunday that Beijing Vice Mayor Liu Zhihua, who was in charge of construction for the Olympics, was sacked for alleged corruption. Liu, 57, oversaw construction, real estate, sports and traffic projects, and was required to report to the city’s Parliament on the progress of Olympic venue work. The government has not officially said what the corrupt activities were, but the pro-Beijing press in Hong Kong has alleged activities that included bribery, illegal loans and keeping mistresses.
