Xu Fangming, the former head of the banking division of the
Chinese Ministry of Finance, has been charged with taking bribes
equivalent to 2.14 million yuan (US$267,500), say sources with the
No.1 Intermediate People's Court of Beijing City.
Trial of Xu will be carried out in a separate chosen date later,
said the court sources.
The prosecutors allege that Xu, aged 49, took bribes in Chinese
currency yuan and U.S. dollars between 1997 and 2000, from two
sources when he served as deputy head of the ministry's business
and banking division, the state treasury bond and banking division,
and head of the banking division division successively.
After taking bribes from Han Bing, the legal representative of
Beijing Cheng'aoda Commercial Investment and Consulting Co. Ltd.
and another allegedly briber known as Liu Min, Xu was accused of
taking the advantage of his work posts to pursue interests on
behalf of the companies the two bribers represented, according an
indictment against Xu.
Both Han Bing and Liu Min are dealt with separately, said the
court sources.
Xu, a native of Chifeng, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia
Autonomous Region, was detained by the police on June 16, 2005 for
suspected bribe-taking but was formally arrested half a month
later.
(Xinhua News Agency August 4, 2006)
