Former Qinghai official to face corruption trial

BEIJING - A former high-ranking official from northwest China's Qinghai province has been formally charged with taking bribes and embezzlement of public funds.

Mao Xiaobing, a former member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Qinghai Provincial Committee who also occupied a number of other public positions, has been investigated by procurators.

Mao's case will be heard by the Lanzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court in neighboring Gansu province, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Friday, without specifying when the trial will take place.

He was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office in July 2014, following an internal graft investigation by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

Between 1994 and 2014, Mao abused his power to seek benefits for others after accepting huge amounts of money and goods while in charge of a regional bureau of China's Western Mining Group and acting as mayor and Party chief of Xining, according to an indictment by the Lanzhou Municipal People's Procuratorate, which filed the lawsuit against him.