Ex-Shanghai land official charged for bribery -Xinhua

A former Shanghai land official has been charged with taking $5 million in bribes, according to the official Xinhua News agency, as part of an anti-corruption drive in the city that has highlighted shady property deals. Yin Guoyuan, a senior official at the Shanghai Housing, Land and Resources Administration Bureau, and his wife accepted the bribes from developers in return for favourable treatment for land use applications, Xinhua reported on Friday.

Citing a branch of the Shanghai People's procuratorate -- a state body for legal supervision -- the report said Yin took the bribes between 2002 and 2006, before he was arrested in April last year.

Yin, 64 and retired, failed to account for the source of 8.1 million yuan and $40,000 in his possession, according to the article, and was also accused of power abuse and illegally hiding guns and ammunition.

An anti-corruption campaign in Shanghai that started in mid-2006 has brought down several senior officials including former Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu and revealed scandals involving at least 3.4 billion yuan ($470.9 million) embezzled from the city's social security fund.

(US$1=7.2065 Yuan)