BEIJING - A FORMER powerful official in China's capital faces prosecution for pocketing bribes from property developers, advertising companies and other businesses, a local newspaper said on Thursday.

Zhou Liangluo, former head of Haidian district, the city's thriving university and high-tech hub, took pay-offs worth 16 million yuan (S$3.2 million) from nearly 10 businesses and people, the Beijing Times reported.

Investigators last month handed his case to a city court for trial. His wife, Lu Xiaodan, also faces charges of taking 8 million yuan in bribes, the paper said.

China's ruling Communist Party has often decried corruption as a threat to its power. But the country's mixture of market opportunities and top-down political controls nonetheless offers fertile soil for graft.

Beijing has enjoyed an influx of investment in recent years, spurred by frantic preparations to host this year's Olympic Games.

The influx of money and kick-backs appears to have been too tempting for Zhou, whose posts in Haidian and before that commercial Chaoyang district gave him a big say over lucrative projects.

The report did not say when Zhou and Lu are to be tried, and nor did it say how they intend to plead. -- REUTERS