Senior Chinese Official’s Trial Highlights Atmosphere of Bribery

China’s former deputy planning chief brokered deals and helped approve projects in return for cars, furniture and a phantom job for his son, prosecutors said at a corruption trial yesterday that detailed a culture of back-room dealings in the world’s second-largest economy.

Liu Tienan, the former deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, confessed to taking advantage of his position to seek benefits, according to a running transcript posted to the official microblog of the Langfang City Intermediate People’s Court, south of Beijing, where the trial took place. Liu, 59, and his son Liu Decheng took 35.6 million yuan ($5.8 million) worth of bribes including cash, homes and cars in the decade to 2012, the microblog transcript said.