Former senior official prosecuted in N. China province

SHIJIAZHUANG - A former senior official in north China's Hebei Province has been prosecuted for accepting bribes and holding a large amount of property from unidentified sources, said the provincial procuratorate on Saturday.

The Handan People's Procuratorate also charged Liu Xueku, former vice chairman of the financial and economic affairs committee of the Hebei People's Congress, the provincial legislature, with insider trading.

Liu was also former head of the provincial development and reform commission and mayor of Cangzhou City. He will stand trial at Handan Intermediate People's Court.

The Chinese leadership is pushing an intensive anti-corruption campaign, targeting both high-ranking "tigers" and low-level "flies."

In another recent case, a water supply company boss is under investigation after he was exposed for keeping a huge amount of cash and gold in his house in Hebei.

Authorities seized 120 million yuan (19.5 million U.S. dollars) in cash and 37 kg of gold in the home of Ma Chaoqun, former general manager of the water supply company in Beidaihe, a summer resort in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province.

Investigators also found ownership certificates for 68 houses at his home, according to the Hebei discipline inspection commission of the Communist Party of China.

According to discipline inspection officials in Qinhuangdao, Ma is suspected of bribery and embezzlement. The investigation into Ma began in February. He was soon dismissed from his post as the water company's general manager.