A village head in Shenzhen was accused by the city's procuratorate on Thursday of taking and offering large amounts of money as bribes.

Zhou Weisi, a former head of Nanlian village, was accused of accepting 49 million yuan ($8.09 million) and 7 million yuan in commissions, and of paying HK$200,000 in bribes, according to the charges of the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Procuratorate.

An anonymous letter that was widely circulated online among Chinese netizens in late 2012, claimed that Zhou had assets of more than 2 billion yuan, including 80 properties and more than 20 limousines.

Though details in the letter have not been confirmed, an investigation was launched in early 2013, after the letter appeared online.

Zhou was detained in January 2013 and formally arrested in February, Guangzhou Daily reported.