A former district Party secretary is on trial in Guangzhou, charged with accepting almost 2 million yuan (US$240,000) in bribes over a decade.

A public trial of Liang Bainan, former Party secretary of Panyu District, started Thursday in the capital of Guangdong Province.

Born in July of 1946, Liang was a prefecture-level official and former chairman of the Panyu District Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Prosecutors say he accepted bribes valued at more than 1.8 million yuan (US$216,900) between 1993 and 2003. Liang's negligence may have cost the State more than 11 million yuan (US$1.34 million) after he illegally granted land use rights on 6.67 hectares to a local developer surnamed Mo free of charge. Mo paid Liang some 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) in return.

Officials also say Liang used public money to travel overseas with his wife and children every year and may also have used public money to gamble in casinos while on overseas trips.

In 1996, Liang was held hostage by other gamblers in Macao after losing all his money.

He was released only after a subordinate surnamed Chen, who managed a port company in his district, brought more than 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (US$25,700) to help Liang pay his gambling debts.

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court has not ruled yet.

Liang joined the Communist Part of China at the age of 18. He was promoted to vice-mayor of Panyu, a suburban city of Guangzhou in 1993. Panyu became a district of Guangzhou in 2002.

Liang was once concurrently director of the Administrative Committee of Nansha Economic and Technological Development Zone, located at the mouth of the Pearl River.

He was removed from his post in August of 2003 and arrested last October. Liang is one of many senior officials facing corruption charges in Guangzhou.

Earlier this year, Li Weiyu, former Party secretary and director of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection, was allegedly paid more than 1 million yuan (US$120,000) to grant specific projects to contractors.

(China Daily August 27, 2004)