Ex-Chinese planning official on trial for graft

The trial of a former senior Chinese economic planning official accused of taking bribes opened Wednesday at the Langfang Intermediate People's Court in northern Hebei province.

The official, Liu Tienan, is former vice minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission and former head of the National Energy Administration.

Liu was sacked in May last year. Luo Changping, deputy editor-in-chief of Caijing magazine, posted accusations on his microblog in late 2012 that Liu was involved in a number of illegal activities.

According to the indictment issued by the Langfang City People's Procuratorate, Liu sought benefits for others by taking advantage of his position, and accepted "an extremely large amount" of financial incentives.