Former senior Jiangsu provincial legislator indicted for bribery, power abuse

BEIJING -- Liu Handong, a former senior legislator in East China's Jiangsu province, has been indicted for suspected bribery, abuse of power and illegal trade of land-use rights, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said on Monday.

Liu, former vice chairman of the standing committee of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress, allegedly took undue advantage of his various positions and abused his power to seek profits for others, illegally accepting a particularly large sum of money and valuables in exchange, according to procuratorial organs.

He also abused his power in matters such as the transfer of land-use rights and the exemption of land value-added tax, resulting in significant losses for public assets and state interests.

Prosecutors had informed the defendant of his legal rights, interrogated him and listened to the defense counsel's arguments.

Following the conclusion of investigations by the National Commission of Supervision and the police, the People's Procuratorate of Xiangyang in Central China's Hubei province filed Liu's case with the city's intermediate people's court.