CNPC party members support decision to disgrace Zhou

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The leaders of China National Petroleum Corp., the country's biggest oil and gas producer and one-time power base for politician Zhou Yongkang, on Saturday backed a decision to arrest him for corruption. The Communist Party decision to disgrace Zhou, announced overnight, was "wise, correct and decisive", said a statement on the CNPC website following a meeting of the company's party members to discuss the case. The ruling party's elite Politburo decided on Friday to expel the former domestic security chief, 71, from the party and accused him of crimes ranging from accepting bribes to leaking state secrets. He is by far the highest-profile figure caught up in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption and the most senior Chinese official to be ensnared in a graft scandal since the Communists swept to power in 1949. Zhou rose through the ranks at state-owned CNPC and from 1996-1998 served as general manager of the firm, cultivating a network that anti-corruption authorities have aggressively pursued. In late November, the People's Daily newspaper, a mouthpiece of the party, said authorities were investigating five networks linked to Zhou, including colleagues from his time at CNPC. The party meeting at CNPC on Friday "stressed that all cadres and workers must strengthen their political awareness, their overall sense of responsibility and rule of law", the statement said. It called on all CNPC workers and party members to support the decision. "We must resolutely safeguard the company's overall stability," it said. The party has already cracked down on several of Zhou's proteges, including Jiang Jiemin, who was the top regulator of state-owned enterprises for five months until last September when state media said he was under investigation for graft. Jiang was previously chairman of state-owned CNPC as well as one of its subsidiaries, oil-and-gas behemoth PetroChina. (Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Tom Heneghan)