Five senior officials prosecuted for taking bribes

BEIJING - Prosecuting authorities have filed separate lawsuits against five senior officials suspected of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate revealed on Friday.

The five include Chou He, former deputy head of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of Communist Party of China (CPC), who is charged with taking bribes to help others gain benefits, according to the SPP statement.

Yang Weize, former Party chief of Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province; Si Xinliang, former deputy head of the provincial political advisory body in Zhejiang; and Xiao Tian, former deputy director of China's General Administration of Sport, have all been charged with bribery.

Wu Changshun, vice chairman of the political advisory body of Tianjin Municipality and the city's former police chief, is accused of embezzlement and abuse of power as well as taking bribes.

The five have all been expelled from the CPC and government offices.

The SPP also announced on Friday that it is investigating Chen Xuefeng, a former member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Henan Provincial Committee, for suspected bribery, following Chen's expulsion from the party on Thursday.