Yu Zhifei, former chief of the Shanghai International Circuit, stood trial Monday on accusations of embezzling 1.05 million yuan (around 138,700 U.S. dollars), court sources said on Tuesday.
The case was heard at the Intermediate People's Court in Wuhu, a city in east China's Anhui Province.
The court did not announce a verdict on Monday.
Yu, 54, former general manager of the Shanghai circuit that hosts Formula One and Moto Grand Prix races and board chairman of Shanghai Shenhua Football Club, has been under investigation since last October on suspicion of misappropriating company funds to pay off personal debts and buy a house.
Investigators said Yu had embezzled 800,000 yuan from the Shanghai Shenhua Football Club in 1997 to pay off his personal debts, owed to a Shanghai developer for a 2.43-million yuan house. On the company's account book, the amount was allegedly spent on "consultation service fees".
He appropriated another 250,000 yuan in 1999 for the same purpose, but claimed the money was spent on "public welfare advertisements" during that year's Shanghai chrysanthemum show.
Yu was detained in January this year and his arrest was approved by the Anhui Provincial People's Procuratorate in February.
He was expelled from the Communist Party of China in May.
Yu is well-known for bringing Manchester United to Shanghai in 1999. He was also a major force in bringing the elite motor racing sport to China, which held its first F1 race in 2004.
Source: Xinhua
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