Beijing Olympic corruption probe on-going

The corruption investigation into Liu Zhihua, a former Beijing vice mayor who oversaw much of the $40bn (€31bn) being spent on Olympics projects, is still on-going, an Olympic planning official said today.

Charges against Liu have yet to be filed, said Wang Wei, executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games.

Wang would not elaborate.

He made his comments on the sidelines of a press conference to mark the two-year countdown to the games and to brief the media about Beijing’s preparations.

The games are scheduled to begin on August 8, 2008.

The government has said that Liu was dismissed in early June for unspecified corrupt acts. More than a dozen government officials and businessmen have been detained or questioned in the investigation.

Beijing’s Olympic organising committee, or BOCOG, has sought to downplay the investigation, saying that its work and the construction of the 31 sporting venues have been unimpeded by the probe.

The government has said that it is intent on staging a graft-free Olympiad but bribe-taking in China is rampant, especially in the booming construction sector.

Beijing Olympic organisers were last week forced to sign anti-corruption pledges, making them responsible for any violations of anti-graft rules, embezzlement or corruption within their departments, state media reported earlier.