Monopoly bred corruption

With prosecutors filing a lawsuit against Liu Zhijun in the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday, the high-profile corruption case finally entered court proceedings.

Liu, the former railways minister, has been charged with bribery and abuse of power. According to the indictment, Liu took advantage of his position to pursue benefits for others and accepted "especially enormous" bribes, and his malpractices and abuse of power have caused "especially enormous losses". A date is to be set for his trial.

Before his dismissal from his post for serious disciplinary violations in February 2011, Liu had ruled the railways ministry for almost eight years, and he was labeled by many as the person who boosted the country's railways development. During his tenure, Liu launched a large-scale railways investment campaign and promoted the construction of one of the world's largest high-speed railway network.