Zheng, 63, was accused of taking bribes worth 6.45 million yuan (nearly $838,000) and dereliction of duty during his tenure as director of SFDA from 1998 until 2005 when he retired. He first came under investigation last December as a result of a probe against his subordinates. The Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court, which accepted Zheng’s case on April 20, is expected to pass judgment by the end of this month.

“It is very likely that all the pharmaceutical companies involved, including Kangliyuan Group in Hainan Province and Double-Dove Group in Zhejiang Province, will be unveiled,” said the 21st Century Business Herald quoting a well-informed source.

SFDA, created in 1998, was vested the sole power in 2002 to approve medicines before they hit the market. Zheng also promoted a certification system called Good Manufacturing Practice, later with which he and a group of officials in the drug watchdog earned illegal profits. Recent food and drug accidents causing casualties and related corruption scandals have sparked off a credibility crisis at SFDA.

Zheng’s family members, his son and wife, as well as several subordinate officials, have also been found of involvement in his case, but they will be prosecuted separately.

After Zheng was investigated, a sweeping disciplinary check has been ongoing in SFDA since late March. “Officials have divested themselves of 3.5 million shares that they hold in pharmaceutical companies, and staff of the SFDA and its affiliated units turned in gifts and money [that received from pharmaceutical companies] valued at over 2.6 million yuan,” said SFDA.

The administration is drafting new regulations to stamp out corruption, including barring its employees from owning shares in pharmaceutical companies. As far as the procedure itself is concerned, SFDA is planning for a collective responsibility system under which new drugs will require the approval procedures of acceptance, appraisal and approval stages to avoid power abuse.

“A handful of graft cases involving high-ranking officials have had a very

negative impact on society. Leaders at various levels of government should take the lead in the anti-graft drive. They should ensure that their family members, friends, and close subordinates do not abuse government influence.”

Premier Wen Jiabao, initiating a corruption-cleaning campaign after

Zheng Xiaoyu’s scandal was exposed earlier this year

“In response to Zheng Xiaoyu’s case, the government should first devise a workable system to regulate its administrative approval procedures and to restrain officials from abusing their approval powers.”

Peng Zhongyi, deputy head of the task of the State Council, China’s cabinet, force for reforming the administrative approval system

“We are willing to play an even bigger role in China-Africa relations.”

China’s central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan, pledging increased financial

support to Africa’s anti-poverty program and infrastructure development at the African Development Bank’s annual general meeting in Shanghai on May 15

“United, we have all the assets, all the force, all the talent to impose ourselves in this new world that is developing before our eyes.”

Jacques Chirac, urging France in his final televised address as president on May 15 to remain united and true to values that made it a force in Europe and an advocate for world peace

“The legal, technical, and ecological risks are so great that finding investors, if this is not a political project, will be impossible.”

Russian Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko, downplaying U.S.-proposed trans-Caspian gas pipeline after presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan agreed on pipeline restoration and new construction from Turkmenistan to Russia via Kazakhstan, at a three-way summit on May 12

“Experience has shown us there is potential in working together, but given the very different nature of our original market, those synergies

are limited.”

Dieter Zetsche, Chief Executive of DaimlerChrysler, after Daimler agreed on May 14 to inject $1.55 billion, or 1.15 billion euros into Chrysler, in order to exit a nine-year-old merger that had failed to deliver on its promise to create a global automotive powerhouse

“We all want China to open up more, but 20 years of experience tell us that it is a step-by-step process, so we just have to be patient.”

P. Victor Visor, CEO of Hachette Filippacchi’s Great China, Southeast Asia & Australia division, at the 36th World Magazine Congress in Beijing on May 14-15