Politically-connected former mayor prosecuted for graft

BEIJING - The former vice mayor of Zhangjiajie in central China's Hunan Province, Cheng Danfeng, has been formally charged with using his influence to receive kickbacks, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Wednesday.

Cheng is the son-in-law of Su Rong, the former vice chairman of the National Committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body.

He is accused of taking advantage of Su's influence as the Communist Party chief of Jiangxi province to secure illicit benefits for others, and in return received "extremely huge sum" of bribes, according to the procuratorate of Zhuzhou, another city in Hunan, where the case will be tried.

Su was charged with taking advantage of his positions to seek benefits for others, accepting a huge amount of bribes and abuses of power that caused "great losses" to the state, the SPP announced earlier this month.