Chinese official, son go on trial for USD 92 mn corruption

A former bank chief, his son and mistress accused of obtaining over USD92 millionthrough embezzlement andbribeswent on trial today in China's northern Inner Mongolia region.
Yang Chenglin, former chair of the Bank of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is being tried along with son Yang Hai and his mistress Zhang Ting in the Intermediate People's Court in Inner Mongolia's Baotou City.
Prosecutors said Yang began soliciting bribes in 1999, while chairing the Hohhot Commercial Bank, which became the Bank of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in 2003.
He is alleged to have used the bribes to buy apartments in Beijing and Inner Mongolia for Zhang and real estate in the United States for his son.

He also used public funds to make business tours overseas and purchase expensive gifts such as ivory ornaments, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted the court as saying.
The bribes taken directly by Yang or through his son and mistress are alleged to total 307 million yuan. He is also accused of embezzling nearly 300 million yuan. Yang Chenglin was detained in 2014.

Before the trial, he confessed to having taken 78 million yuan from six companies.
Yang Hai said his father accepted 49 million yuan in bribes from other companies. The confessions may lead to lenient punishments for the pair, the report said.

Thousands of officials were punished in the anti-corruption campaign initiated by Chinese President Xi Jinping since he took over power in 2013.