Ex-soccer chief charged with taking 1.7 million in bribes

Xie Yalong arrives at the Dandong Intermediate People's Court in Dandong, Northeast China's Liaoning province, April 24, 2012. [Photo/CFP]

DANDONG, Liaoning province - Former Chinese Football Association (CFA) chief Xie Yalong has been charged with taking over 1.7 million yuan (about $273,000) in bribes as a northeastern Chinese court opened the second round of trials on soccer corruption on Tuesday morning. [Special coverage]

The 56-year-old Xie, who had been the CFA chief for three years before handing the job to Nan Yong, faces 12 counts of bribe-taking totaling 1,727,800 yuan at Dandong Intermediate People's Court.

Xie's attorney Jin Xiaohui told the Chinese portal Sina that the former soccer head had denied "parts of the charges" against him in the court.

Jin also claimed Xie was tortured into a guilty confession during his detention and was told his family would be held in custody until he admitted the crime.

Nan will also stand trial on bribe-taking charges in a different court in Liaoning province on Wednesday.

Former CFA vice-presidents Xie Yalong (R) and Nan Yong. [File photo]

Xie and Nan are the highest ranking officials caught in China's ever-widening crackdown on soccer corruption, which has brought down dozens of high-ranking soccer officials, referees and players.

Xie is believed to have taken more than 2 million yuan ($317,000) in bribes during his tenure, while his successor, Nan, is reported to have taken around 3 million yuan ($476,000). The two face possible prison terms of more than 10 years.

Wei Shaohui, the former Chinese national team manager, and Li Dongsheng, the former chief of the CFA referee committee, will also be tried at Dandong Intermediate People's Court.

Former national team players Qi Hong, Shen Si, Li Ming and Jiang Jin, who are alleged to have accepted a total of 8 million yuan ($1.27 million) for fixing the result of a last-round game between Shanghai International and Tianjin Teda in 2003, will be in court at Shenyang on Wednesday.

The trials mark the end of the 2 1/2-year soccer-scandal crack down in China.

Yang Yimin, a former CFA vice-president, was sentenced to 10 years in February. Lu Jun, the nation's only referee to have officiated at a World Cup, was sentenced to 5 years, 6 months for accepting 810,000 yuan ($129,000) in bribes from 1999 to 2003.

Former CFA chief Xie Yalong (R) and former Chinese national team manager Wei Shaohui in this Jan 5, 2008 file photo. [Photo/Xinhua]

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