Former drug registration official Cao Wenzhuang went on trial on Thursday for charges of bribery and dereliction of duty.

Cao is the third senior official with China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) to stand trial, after former SFDA head Zheng Xiaoyu and former director of the SFDA department of medical devices Hao Heping.

Cao denied the charges at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate Court, the Beijing Evening News reported.

Cao, who was also one of Zheng Xiaoyu's former secretaries, has been under investigation since January 2006.

The Beijing Evening News said Cao was charged with taking 2.34 million yuan (US$304,000) in bribes. He was also accused of lowering the drug registration standards, which put the health of the public at risk and undermined government credibility.

Cao entered the SFDA in 1988 and served as head the of the department of drug registration from 2002.

Cao's former boss, Zheng Xiaoyu, was sentenced to death in May at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court. But Zheng has asked the court of second instance to reconsider his sentence as the penalty was "too severe".

Hao Heping, also one of Zheng's former secretaries, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on corruption charges in November last year.

(Xinhua News Agency June 22, 2007)