China’s disgraced minister of land and natural resources has been charged with accepting bribes, the Beijing News said yesterday, the most senior official ensnared for graft since President Hu Jintao took office. Tian Fengshan, 64, who was relieved of his duties as minister of land and natural resources in October 2003 after only seven months in office, was indicted on charges of accepting 5 million yuan in bribes, the newspaper said.

One-time governor of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, Tian, who sat on the Communist Party’s elite 198-member Central Committee before his ouster, could be sentenced to death if convicted, legal experts said. Tian was taken into custody in 2003 after Wang Shenyi, former director of Heilongjiang’s environmental protection bureau, informed against his ex-boss. Wang was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July for accepting bribes.

Tian’s trial was expected to begin at the Beijing Number Two Intermediate People’s Court in the first half of next year, the newspaper said. The court declined to comment. Tian’s family and lawyer could not be reached. The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is in charge of planning, management, protection and use of land, mineral and marine resources, according to the ministry Web site.