Former senior Chinese official charged with graft, power abuse

Zhou Yongkang, a former senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was charged with bribery, abuse of power and intentional disclosure of state secrets, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said on Friday.

The indictment was brought in on Friday to the Tianjin Municipal No.1 Intermediate People's Court, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Zhou, 73, served as deputy general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation, secretary of the CPC Sichuan provincial committee, and member of the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee and minister of public security and state councillor.

He also served as member of the standing committee of the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee.

Zhou took the advantage of his posts to offer interests to others and illegally accepted a huge amount of money and properties, according to the indictment.

His abuse of power resulted in grave losses of public property and interests of the country and the people. The social impact was "bad" and his act was "particularly serious," according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate statement.

He also intentionally disclosed state secrets and his act was "particularly serious", according to the indictment.