Former senior provincial legislator indicted for bribery

BEIJING -- Song Taiping, a former senior legislator in North China's Hebei province, has been indicted on a charge of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate said Tuesday.

Song, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Hebei, took advantage of the posts he held to seek unjustified gains for others and accepted money and gifts in colossal amounts in return, which merit a criminal charge of bribery, the indictment said.

The prosecution was brought by the procuratorate of Yuncheng city, North China's Shanxi province, upon the designation of the SPP following the closure of a probe by the National Commission of Supervision.

Prosecutors had informed the defendant of his litigation rights, interrogated him and listened to the defense counsel's opinions, the SPP said.