Jiang Jiemin: China former energy chief on trial

  

China's former energy chief Jiang Jiemin has gone on trial for corruption, a Chinese court says.

Jiang Jiemin has been charged with bribery and abuse of power during his time at the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), according to Xinhua news agency.
He was arrested in 2013, shortly after he left to head a government body overseeing state-owned companies.


China is currently conducting a widespread crackdown on corruption.
A statement on the microblog account of the Hanjiang Intermediate People's Court in Hubei province said that Mr Jiang was accused of "accepting bribes and large amounts of assets of unclear provenance, and misusing his authority as an employee of a state-owned company".
It added that Mr Jiang did not raise objections when the charges were read out to him in court.
In the late 1990s and 2000s he rose through the ranks of CNPC, which is the parent company of Asia's biggest oil producer PetroChina, to become chairman.
Xinhua said he was accused of using high-level positions in CNPC between 2004 and 2013 to help others get promotions and access to projects in return for bribes.
It reported prosecutors saying that as of August 2013, Mr Jiang and his family possessed assets whose value "clearly far outstripped" what they were supposed to have, and he was "unable to give the sources" for the extra income and assets.
He left CNPC in April 2013 to take his highest position yet, as head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission - a cabinet-level position.
But five months later he was fired and accused of corruption.
It is not clear how long the trial will last, but similar cases have taken only a few days.