A court case has begun handling an 18-member gang allegedly involved in prostitution, drug dealing and bribing senior officials.

The case started on Wednesday in Zunyi, Guizhou Province of Southwest China.

The gang, whose leaders were Chen Lin and Tan Wei, is accused of organizing, leading and participating in the criminal underworld, said a report by Xinhua. The gang operated under the disguise of a company from 1993.

It recruited released prisoners for its "businesses" which included organized prostitution and drug deals.

The gang also cheated banks out of loans of 74.88 million yuan (US$9 million), said Xinhua.

The gang is also accused of offering bribes to former provincial officials to achieve their aims and make money illegally.

Senior government officials the gang offered bribes to included Liu Fangren, the then secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Liu Changgui, the then vice-governor of Guizhou Province.

Liu Fangren took around US$33,000 in bribes from the gang.

Liu Changgui received 750,000 yuan (US$90,580) from the group.

They also bribed the former president of the Commercial Bank of Guiyang.

Liu Fangren was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 29, 2004 for taking bribes. It was said he was bribed 22 times -- not just by the gang -- altogether taking 6.8 million yuan (over US$818,900) between March 1995 and February 2002.

Liu Fangren was accused of misusing his power to seek illegal benefits for others.

Liu Changgui, the former vice-governor of Guizhou Province, was also on trial for corruption in 2004.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

(China Daily April 8, 2005)