Huang Lijun, former vice chief of the municipal education bureau, is being probed on charges of accepting bribes and abusing his power, education officials said Tuesday, confirming rumors that have been circulating for months.

Huang was reportedly detained by the discipline inspection authority last year after returning from a trip to the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. He is accused of taking bribes, receiving kickbacks and taking advantage of his position to amass an unspecified amount of money through illegal means.

Huang, 51, a native of Doumen County, Guangdong Province, graduated from the journalism department of Jinan University and joined the Communist Party of China in April 1975. Before he was "ordered to report to authorities at a specified location within a specified period of time," he served as vice director general of the Shenzhen Municipal education bureau.

Huang was one of the three education officials investigated on graft charges last year, yesterday's Daily Sunshine reported.

The other two were Liu Yong, an office director of Shenzhen Polytechnic, and An Fengqi, an official with the teaching and research department under the municipal education bureau.

Liu was sentenced to two years in jail with a two-year reprieve. He has been expelled from the CPC. An is still being investigated for allegedly receiving kickbacks of an unspecified amount.