A former chief engineer of China Southern Airlines went on trial yesterday for allegedly taking more than 7 million yuan (US$1.07 million) in bribes, China News Service reported.
Zhang Heping, 58, also the general manager of the engineering division at one of China's biggest state-owned airlines, allegedly abused his position to help six people gain the right to distribute air tickets, to manage airport infrastructure projects and plane maintenance projects and promote family members to work in the airline from 1999 to last year, the Intermediate People's Court of Hengyang City, Hunan Province, heard.
Investigations revealed that Zhang allegedly accepted 3.96 million yuan in bribes from Pang Hanzhang, legal representative of a Guangdong Province-based airline service company, Rimei, when he was in charge of the airline's Hunan branch from January 2003 to May 2009, the news report said yesterday.
In return, Zhang authorized Pang to distribute the company's air tickets despite a ban imposed in 2005. Prosecutors said Pang made a profit totaling 100 million yuan from reselling the tickets from 2003 to 2006.
Zhang was also alleged to help Pang obtain airline routes linking popular cities like Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou to expand charter flight services.
Prosecutors alleged Zhang accepted 2.57 million yuan from Wang Huicheng, chairman of a Hunan-based real estate developer, by helping the latter get a company's project and arranged for his daughter to work in the airline's Guangdong branch.
The court heard Zhang took tribes from others including chairman of a Sichuan Province-based high-tech company in return for a plane maintenance contract as well as an executive of a Taiwan travel agency.
