By staff reporter Luo Changping

The former vice mayor of Beijing, Liu Zhihua, faced a court trial October 14 in Hengshui City, Heibei Province, on charges of accepting bribes and abuse of power. It is alleged that he gave several Olympic stadium construction projects to his mistress.

According to the prosecution, Liu took 6 million yuan in bribes during his tenure as secretary of the Beijing municipal government and later as vice major. Liu, 59, was also the head of the construction headquarters for Beijing 2008 and responsible for all Olympic stadium projects. Prosecutors believe he channeled several lucrative projects to his mistress’s company.

Liu’s mistress, Wang Jianrui, is the legal person of a construction company that once won the right to build the national tennis stadium, hockey stadium and archery stadium for the Twenty-Ninth Olympic Games in Beijing in August 2008.

While the crimes of which Liu is accused took place in Beijing, the trial’s venue was set in the distant city of Hengshui under a stipulation from the supreme court of China. Liu’s wife and son both were both in attendance on the first day.

Liu has been under party detention since June 2006. His public posts were stripped in December of the same year.

Liu’s case shed light on a chain of corrupted officials and businessmen who had dealings with the former vice mayor. One of the most prominent among them is Zhang Wenzhong, founder and chairman of Beijing’s largest supermarket chain Wumart Stores Inc. His trial began September 24 in the same Hebei court. The charges were fraud and company bribery.