The former president of China Construction Bank (CCB), Zhang Enzhao, appeared in a Beijing court Thursday. This is his first appearance in court since he fell from grace at the major Chinese bank in March 2005.

Zhang, 60, appeared late Thursday afternoon at Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court, where he was charged with taking bribes worth 4.15 million yuan (520,000 U.S. dollars), the Beijing News reported Saturday.

Zhang was charged with 19 counts of taking cash and property bribes in return for helping people get loans from CCB.

Zhang pleaded guilty in court. But his lawyer Gao Zicheng said the real amount of the bribes is only 1.5 million yuan, arguing that a 2.65 million yuan house considered by the prosecutors to be a bribe was given to Zhang by an old friend, and that Zhang accorded no advantage in return.

The lawyer also reminded the court that Zhang had provided all the evidence against himself, as the prosecutors had nothing on him when he was detained.

According to his lawyer, the Chinese prosecutors took action against Zhang on the basis of suspicion after he was prosecuted in the United States for taking one million dollars from a U.S. financial information technology company in return for a contract to supply software and services to CCB.

The one million dollar bribe in the U.S. case is not part of the charges against Zhang in the Beijing court.

Zhang was appointed CCB president in January 2002. He resigned from the job in March 2005 after the U.S. case was exposed.

Source: Xinhua