One of the highest-ranking Chinese officials, who led the country's biggest petroleum company, went on trial today on charges of corruption and abuse of power as the anti-graft campaign by President Xi Jinping intensified.
Jiang Jiemin, former head of the China's state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has been accused of taking bribes, possessing large number of assets from unidentified sources and abusing power while performing duty for a state-owned enterprise, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
He was a close associate of disgraced ruling Communist Party senior leader Zhou Yongkang.
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Jiang, 59, was chairman of China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent company of PetroChina Ltd which is Asia's biggest oil producer before being appointed in 2013 to the Cabinet Body that oversees China's biggest state-owned companies.
He was fired from that post in September, 2013 after he came under investigation.
He is being tried at the Hanjiang Intermediate People's Court in Hubei Province.
Jiang's trial is stated to be a prelude to the trial of Zhou, the topmost leader of the Communist Party of China, (CPC) who was arrested for graft and abuse of power.
Zhou was recently charged with corruption, spying and abuse of power at a court in the neighbouring Tianjin city.
Jiang was regarded as a vast net work of Zhou called "Petroleum Gang", as Zhou, a former Standing Committee member of the CPC and National Security Chief in the former President Hu Jintao government held sway over the vast oil lobby in the energy hungry China.
Zhou was the first member of the Standing Committee to go on trial in recent times, making him the senior-most leader to be prosecuted.
The trial of Jiang is expected to gather more evidence againt Zhou.
Hundreds of officials, including about 30 Generals of the military, faced investigations for corruption and abuse of power in the two-year-long crackdown launched by Xi.
