2010-03-30 21:38

BEIJING?- Wang Yi, former vice president of state-run China Development Bank, went on trial in Beijing Tuesday on charges of taking bribes.

Wang was accused of abusing his post to make profits for others in return for bribes totaling 11.96 million yuan ($1.76 million) from November 1999 to February 2008, according to charges brought by the No. 1 branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate.

The hearing at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court was held in public, but no verdict or sentence was reached.

Wang, 54, allegedly took advantage of his post to help Zhou Hong, chief executive of a steel slag company in southwest China's Yunnan Province, in business operations and loan applications, among other abuses of power.

In February last year, Wang was removed from his post and the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the ruling party's internal anti-graft body, stripped him of his Communist Party of China (CPC) membership for "severe violation of discipline and the law."