Former Tibet official latest to fall in China graft sweep

BEIJING (AP) — A former vice governor of China’s sprawling Tibet region has been indicted on charges of accepting bribes, state media reported Friday.

Zhang Yongze is the latest high-level former official to be indicted on graft charges just weeks before a major congress of the ruling Communist Party, whose leader Xi Jinping has made fighting corruption a signature issue.

Zhang “took advantage of his former positions and power to seek benefits for others” in obtaining government contracts and obtaining promotions, for which he “illegally accepted a large amount of money and valuables in return,” the official Xinhua News Agency quoted the indictment as saying.

Zhang’s case is being handled by prosecutors and courts in the western province of Shaanxi, in keeping with the practice of moving cases elsewhere when high-ranking officials and serious charges are involved. High on the Tibetan Plateau, the region holds an abundance of mineral wealth and is run as a virtual police state to guard against pro-independence sentiment among its native population who are ethnically, linguistically and culturally distinct from China's Han majority.