Former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun has been formally charged with corruption and abuse of power. Liu was removed from his post in February 2011 and has been the subject of a corruption investigation over the past two years. From Reuters:
Liu faces either a lengthy jail sentence or possibly death. How severely he is dealt with will be an indicator of how seriously new Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi takes his fight on corruption, one of the pillars of his new administration
Liu “practiced favoritism and carried out malpractice, misused his power and caused big losses to public property and the interests of the state and the people”, the official Xinhua news agency said.
“The second intermediate Beijing court has already accepted the bribery and misuse of power case in accordance with the law and will chose a date for a trial,” the news agency said.
“As a worker for the state, Liu Zhijun used his position to help others seek gain, illegally accepted wealth and assets from other people. The numbers involved were huge and the circumstances very serious,” Xinhua added.
Read more about corruption in the Ministry of Railways in an article by Evan Osnos in the New Yorker, via CDT.
