China charges former head of planning ministry with bribery

China filed graft charges against the former deputy director of the economic planning ministry, saying he illegally received money and goods in bribes.

Liu, 59, former deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, was accused of seeking gain for others, a statement on the Supreme People's Procuratorate said. The case was filed with the People's Intermediate Court in Langfang city in central China's Hebei province, it said. The procuratorate didn't quantify the amount of the bribes Liu is accused of taking.

The prosecution of Liu, which will almost certainly result in conviction, could vindicate public claims made against him by a journalist months before his downfall from a ministry with control over a vast swathe of the economy.

Liu was stripped in May 2013 of his position at the NDRC, which approves infrastructure projects and controls energy prices, after Luo Changping, deputy managing editor of Caijing Magazine, posted allegations on his microblog in December 2012.