President of the Christian Council of East China’s Zhejiang Province has been removed from his post after being arrested on embezzlement charges, the council said Monday. 

Pastor Joseph Gu was arrested by the Hangzhou Public Security Bureau under the approval of Hangzhou People's Procuratorate on suspicion of embezzling large amounts of money during time as senior pastor at Hangzhou's biggest church, the Chongyi Protestant Church, the Zhejiang Daily reported Tuesday. 

Gu is not eligible for the position after his arrest, according to the announcement released by Zhejiang Christian Council on Monday. 

He was relieved of his post to avoid damage to the council’s image as a patriotic Christian organization, and to ensure the “healthy development” of Zhejiang’s Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches (TSPM) and the Zhejiang Christian Council, Zhejiang Daily reported. 

Shan Weixiang was elected as the new president, according to the council’s website. Shan is also the vice present of the China Christian Council, deputy chairman of Zhejiang’s TSPM and chairman of the TSPM of Ningbo, Zhejiang said the Zhejiang Daily. 

Another statement released by the council after Gu was put under investigation for suspected embezzlement said Gu’s suspected misconduct was “purely a personal act” and “we believe that churches in Hangzhou would not be affected by an individual act.”

The statement released on January 29 also called on other pastoral staff to become good citizens and good believers acting in line with the law. 

The statement came after the council announced on January 19 that Gu’s senior pastor’s position at the Chongyi Protestant Church would be handed over to Zhang Zhongcheng, permanent deputy chairman of Hangzhou’s TSPM.

On January 21, the council denied in an interview with the Global Times that the change in church leadership was revenge for any "mistakes," stressing that it was a normal personnel adjustment.

Rumor has it that the replacement of Gu was due to his opposition to the relocation of church crosses or church demolition in Zhejiang.

An alleged open letter from the Zhejiang Christian Council in July 2015 said that the province has relocated over 1,200 crosses, including those at licensed churches. 

China prohibits construction of buildings without prior acquisition of necessary approval from local authorities.

In April 2014, the Sanjiang Church in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province was demolished because it had used five times more space than approved. 

Zhejiang is drafting a new regulation for religious structures. The draft states crosses churches must be attached to the front side of the main building and the ratio of the cross's length and building's height should be no bigger than 1 to 10.

Regulation to further strengthen the management and supervision of finance in TSPM and Christian councils in Zhejiang was reviewed in another meeting on Monday, said the Zhejiang Daily.