Guangzhou property scandal official stands trial

GUANGZHOU - An official who was found to own far more houses than could be afforded on his salary stood trial on Friday at a court in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong province.

Cai Bin, a municipal management official with Guangzhou's Panyu district, was charged with the crime of bribery, according to the Haizhu District People's Court in Guangzhou.

Prosecutors said that Cai had received bribes amounting to 2.75 million yuan (about $450,000) when he successively served as deputy chief of the district's public security bureau, head of its municipal management bureau and political commissar, from 1993 to 2012.

The prosecutors also suggested Cai should be sentenced to 11 to 14 years in jail as he confessed his crime and turned in the bribes.

The court is to announce the verdict on another date.

Cai was dismissed from his post in Oct 2012 as an investigation showed that he and his family owned 22 houses after muckrakers brought the scandal to light in cyberspace.