Ex-senior officials found guilty of graft

Zhou Chunyu, former vice-governor of Anhui province, stood trial in Shandong province on charges of bribery, abusing power, concealing foreign deposits and insider trading, according to the Jinan Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.

Zhou, 50, pleaded guilty during the hearing and showed remorse for his illegal practices. The court verdict will be released later.

According to the indictment by prosecutors, he took advantage of his position to gain benefits for others in enterprise acquisition and bidding for projects, then accepted bribes valued at 13.6 million yuan ($1.96 million) either paid in cash or property from 1996 to 2017.

During those two decades, he mainly served as deputy director of the Anhui provincial finance department; mayor of Maanshan; mayor and Party chief of Bengbu; and vice-governor of Anhui.

Prosecutors said that when he was serving as mayor in Bengbu in Anhui, he violated the State land management rule and privately decided to return land-transfer fees to relevant enterprises, causing economic losses to the State of 665 million yuan ($95.5 million).

When he served as Party chief in Bengbu, he violated the rules and transferred a total of $4.12 million in illicit assets to his foreign accounts and didn't report those to the Party, the prosecutors said.

Moreover, as an insider with confidential information about stock trades, he purchased 270 million yuan in stocks and illegally earned 350 million yuan.

In April 2017, the anti-graft watchdog launched an investigation of Zhou for "serious violations of Party discipline". In July last year, he was expelled from the Party and removed from public office.