Former senior officials facing action over alleged graft

Lyu Xiwen, a former Beijing deputy Party chief, has been placed "under coercive measures", a term that usually means detention, and is the subject of a bribery investigation, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Monday.

Lyu was accused of abusing her power to gain benefits for others and accepting huge bribes from them, the country's top prosecuting agency said in a statement.

On Jan 5, Lyu was expelled from the Party and removed from her post for serious discipline violations. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country's top anti-graft watchdog, said she violated political discipline, breached the central authority's major policies and formed cliques to resist the Party's discipline inspection.

Lyu was accused of illegally selecting and appointing Party officers, interfering in personnel matters and using her job to benefit her relatives' business projects or to benefit other enterprises in exchange for bribes.

She was also suspected of living a luxury lifestyle and attending private clubs and entertainment venues, according to the commission.

In November, Lyu was investigated for suspected "serious disciplinary violations", becoming the first high-ranking official in the capital under probe since the 18th Party Congress in 2012, when the new leadership took office.

In another case, Shen Weichen, former Party chief and executive vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology, stood trial on Monday on charges of taking bribes, according to a court in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.

Shen was accused of accepting bribes worth 95.4 million yuan ($14.5 million) between 1992 and 2014, according to the Changzhou City Intermediate People's Court.

He allegedly sought profits for other people in business and promotion by taking advantage of his post or through other civil servants over the course of 22 years, the statement said.

Shen served as the Party chief of Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, and deputy head of the Communist Party of China Central Committee's publicity department before he assumed his posts at the association.

The court will release its verdict at a later date.

The top anti-graft watchdog announced an investigation into Shen in April 2015.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn