Shanghai Communists Convene Congress

ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press Writer

(AP) - SHANGHAI, China-Communist Party officials in Shanghai convened a congress Thursday to install a new generation of leaders following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader.

"Power bestowed by the people must serve the people's interests," Xi Jinping, the city's party secretary, told the 809 delegates to the congress in a speech broadcast online.

Xi was named in March to replace Chen Liangyu, who was dismissed last year over allegations of corruption and other abuses - the highest level Communist Party official to be dismissed in a decade.

The allegations against Chen came amid a scandal over the alleged misuse of about $400 million in pension funds that were improperly invested in real estate and road toll projects.

The citywide congress will elect delegates to a national party congress to be held later in the year in Beijing. President Hu Jintao, who is also the country's party chief, has been removing political foes as he consolidates power in the run-up to that gathering.

"We deeply feel that the pension fund case and comrade Chen Liangyu's serious violations exposed the many weaknesses in the party," Xi said, noting the damage to party and national interests resulting from corruption and other problems.

Mayor Han Zheng announced earlier this year that all misused funds had been recovered, however new allegations of abuses continue to surface, and the final results of a secretive investigation into the pension fund case have yet to be announced.

Earlier this week, the head of Shanghai's multimillion dollar Formula One auto racing track, Yu Zhifei, was fired in connection with the scandal. Yu, thought to be a close associate of Chen's, is one of more than a dozen people reportedly targeted in the probe.