The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court of Zhejiang Province opened the first trial of Feng Xinzhu, former vice governor of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on bribery charges on Thursday.

Photo: People's Daily app

Feng was accused of taking advantage of his posts and using his power and status to seek benefits for others, and accepting "especially huge amounts of money and gifts," from 1999 to 2017, when he was serving as the chairman of Shaanxi Bada Electric Power Co, the deputy mayor of Tongchuan Municipal Government, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, the secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Tongchuan Municipal Committee and Shaanxi Provincial Government and and the director of the Yangling Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone Management Committee.

Feng is alleged to have manipulated decision for project investment, mining, loans, projects contracting and leadership adjustments. He accepted bribes worth 70.47 million yuan ($10.4 million).

The court will announce the sentence later.

(Compiled by Dong Feng)