Li Jianzhong, one of China's former top rocket designers, has been arrested and will soon stand trial on charges of bribery and embezzlement, according to local media.

Li, the president from 1994 to 2000 of the elite China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), the country's leading launch vehicle producer, is alleged to have taken more than 1.6 million yuan (about 194,000 US dollars) and 20,000 US dollars in bribes and embezzled 155 million yuan (18.76 million US dollars).

Considering the evidence for 40 million yuan (4.84 million US dollars) of the total inadequate, the Beijing No. 1 Branch of the Municipal Procuratorate is still looking into the case.

Li was renowned as the development organizer for the Long March series of rockets, which have sent various satellites and the Shenzhou V aircraft, China's first manned spaceship, into space.

A official at CALT confirmed that Li has been arrested on charges of bribery, said the Beijing News, but declined to comment further.

A high-ranking official was quoted as saying that Li's case was filed for investigation in late 2004 and that the No. 1 Intermediate Court is expected to handle it.

The vice president of CALT earlier told a local new organization on condition of anonymity that the bribery allegedly taken by Li and his accomplices well exceeded 2 million yuan (some 242,000 US dollars), an amount once reported by the media.

A probe of Li was started shortly after the successful blast- off of Shenzhou V in October 2003, precipitated by leads from informants.

The informants alleged that Li took bribes when he served as the president of CALT and chairman of a listed company specializing in rocketry.

Vice president of CALT said that none of the others involved in Li's case were technicians or members of the development team of Long March 2F, launch vehicle of Shenzhou V.

"So the allegations are groundless that the quality of Shenzhou V had been somewhat affected," he was quoted as saying by the Huaxia Times, a Beijing-based press.

In March of 1996, Li organized the acquisition of a listed company and rebuilt it into the Long March Launch Vehicle Technology Co., Ltd, with CALT as the biggest shareholder. The new company was listed as candidate for China's top fifty listed companies in 2001.

"He had betrayed some symptoms of criminality at that time," recalled the vice president, noting that Li had been held for investigation four years earlier.

Moreover, the vice-president described Li, who was not formally trained as rocket designer, as less knowledgeable in rocketry than capital operation, in which he was expert.

"Other leaders of CALT reminded Li to be careful, clean and ethical," the vice president said, "and Li pledged that he would never run into trouble."

"But Li's case will not erode the courageous, collective spirit of the Shenzhou VI team," he said.

Founded in 1957, CALT has sent more than 70 spacecraft into orbit in the past 35 years. It now has more than 8,000 technicians and approximately 10 billion yuan (1.2 billion US dollars).

Source: Xinhua