A former high-ranking official from northwest China's Qinghai Province stood trial on charges of taking bribes and embezzlement of public funds, a court in Lanzhou, Gansu Province said Wednesday after a hearing.
Mao Xiaobing, a former member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Qinghai Provincial Committee, was accused of seeking and accepting bribes worth more than 100 million yuan (around 16 million U.S. dollars) from others.
He allegedly "offered help" to 30 companies and individuals in obtaining project contracts and other advantages between 1995 and 2013 when he was in charge of China's Western Mining Group and its subsidiary company and acting as mayor and Party chief of Xining, capital city of Qinghai, according to the court.
Mao was also charged with embezzling around 400 million yuan of public funds from Western Mining between March and June 2006, though he returned the money later on, the court said.
Mao was under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law in April 2014.
The court will give the verdict on a later date.
