SHANGHAI, Aug 3 -- THE former Communist Party boss of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, is in jail awaiting trial on corruption charges, a senior disciplinary official said in Beijing yesterday.

Judicial authorities will decide when to begin the trial against Chen, said Gan Yisheng, secretary-general of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China.

Chen's case shows the central government needs to enhance supervision to avoid promoting questionable officials, Gan said.

He touched on the government's hard line on graft and high-level economic crimes in response to a question from a foreign journalist.

"We are very prudent in using the death penalty to execute perpetrators of economic crimes and the number of death penalties handed down to economic criminals is very small," Gan said at a press conference.

"China has so far kept the death penalty system and the death penalty is applicable to serious economic crimes."

Gan's remarks came when the journalist questioned the severity of the punishment given to Zheng Xiaoyu, who was executed on July 10 for corruption during his tenure as director of China's State Food and Drug Administration.

"The reason for Zheng Xiaoyu's death sentence was that the bribes he took were huge and he committed serious crimes," said Gan.

Chen was expelled from the Communist Party of China and dismissed from all government posts last month for his alleged involvement in a pension fund scandal.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China said his case has been handed over to prosecutors.

According to the investigation, Chen misused his power to support the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Labor and Social Security to illegally grant loans from the Shanghai social security fund to private companies. He also helped private companies purchase shares of state-owned enterprises causing great damage to the public assets.

A statement made when Chen was sacked from his government posts said he was "morally decadent," adding that he took advantage of his post to "philander" and trade power for sexual favors. He also shielded officials close to him.

Gan also said that 1,790 corrupt officials have turned themselves in during the Party's 30-day grace period. Their cases involved a total of 77.89 million yuan (US$10.3 million) obtained by dubious means. Some crooked cadres explained their problems to the Party's discipline watchdog within the deadline and have made amends, Gan said.

But others are still under investigation, Gan added while giving a briefing on the Party's discipline inspection tour across the country. The disciplinary watchdog set a 30-day deadline, starting on June 8, for officials to turn in property or money they obtained by abusing their power.