The trial in a high-profile corruption case, known as China's largest "selling official posts" scandal, began on Tuesday in Beijing.

Defendant Ma De, a senior official in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, has been charged with taking 17 bribes amounting to more than 6 million yuan (US$726,000) between 1992 and 2001.

More than 260 government officials are alleged to have connections with Ma's case, including Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources, and Han Guizhi, former chairwoman of the Heilongjiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Ma, 56, is the former secretary of the municipal committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the poverty-stricken city of Suihua.

Ma's arrest sent a shockwave through the city as more than half of the local government and Party officials were allegedly involved.

The majority of the bribes Ma is accused of accepting were paid by senior officials, including county heads and chiefs of departments under Ma's jurisdiction, who were seeking promotions, the public prosecutors said.

For instance, Wang Xuewu, who formerly served as the CPC deputy chief in Hailun, a county-level city under the administration of Suihua, allegedly offered Ma 500,000 yuan (US$60,000) in November 2000. A few months later, Wang was promoted to the top position in another Suihua county.

Zhang Zhongyi, a lowly branch chief of the Suihua Municipal Administration Bureau, became the bureau's director soon after he offered 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) to Ma, according to the charges.

Ma is also accused of taking bribes from several business people hoping to make money in Suihua, said the prosecutors.

The largest bribe came from Shen Baichen, a construction contractor who allegedly paid Ma 2 million yuan (US$242,000) in early 1999. Shen later won the contract to build the local television center.

At Tuesday's hearing at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, Ma did not contest the charges.

His defense counsel, Qian Lieyang, argued for a lighter punishment as Ma had provided information about other allegedly corrupt individuals.

Another corruption trial linked with the city of Suihua -- that of the former director of the Heilongjiang Environmental Protection Bureau, Wang Shenyi -- was scheduled to be heard in the same court on Wednesday.

Wang allegedly took bribes amounting to 2 million yuan (US$242,000) between May and August 2000 while serving as mayor of Suihua.

The trial of Han Guizhi, former head of the CPPCC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, who allegedly accepted 800,000 yuan (US$97,000) from Ma, will be heard in Beijing soon.

Han allegedly took bribes totaling 9.5 million yuan (US$1.1 million) while serving as head of the Organization Department of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee.

(China Daily March 23, 2005)