(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-15 20:54

HEFEI -- A former city official in east China's Anhui Province has been indicted for allegedly taking bribes of 1.46 million yuan (US$190,000) in land rights sales and real estate projects, according to prosecutors.

Wu Guangchun, former director of the organization department of Tongling Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was charged with taking bribes between 2001 and 2006 when he held senior positions in Baohe District of Hefei, capital of Anhui.

Prosecutors said Wu was involved in infrastructure construction and real estate development projects, and personnel.

Wu was also accused of being unable to account for 1.79 million yuan (US$240,000) in assets and US$4,980, according to the Anqing City People's Procuratorate.

Wu, 52, was appointed to the Tongling post in March 2006 and the investigation began in November. He was arrested on May 12 this year.

A trial date has yet to be set.

China has been moving to crack down on corruption. From August 2005 to the end of 2006, the authorities dealt with 17,084 cases of commercial corruption, involving more than 4.5 billion yuan (US$577 million), according to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

In Anhui Province alone, in the first half of this year, 54 officials were investigated for corruption. In January, Wang Zhaoyao, former deputy chairman of the Anhui provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes of 7.04 million yuan (US$891,000) and failing to account for property worth 6.5 million yuan (US$800,000).