Beijing's former vice mayor Liu Zhihua, who was sacked for corruption and dissoluteness, went on trial on Tuesday at a court in north China's Hebei Province.

Liu, 59, was charged with taking bribes of more than 6 million yuan (878,477 U.S. dollars) when he was secretary general of the Beijing city government and vice mayor of Beijing, according to the Caijing magazine website.

He abused his power to get contract projects for his mistress and sought large illegal profit, the Intermediate People's Court of Hengshui heard.

Liu was removed from the post of Beijing vice mayor in June 2006 and expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) six months later.

He had been head of the Beijing labor bureau, secretary of the CPC Committee of Xicheng District in Beijing and secretary general of Beijing municipal government. In 1999, he was elected vice mayor of the capital, a job that oversaw construction, real estate, sports and traffic projects around the city.

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2008)