Former party chief of NE China city sentenced to 14 years in jail for bribery

A former top Communist Party of China (CPC) leader in the city of Fushun, northeast China's Liaoning Province, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday for selling official posts and taking bribes.

The verdict by the Liaoning Provincial Higher People's Court upheld a lower court ruling that Zhou Yinxiao had appealed.

The court found that Zhou, 60, took bribes worth more than 1.2 million yuan (about about 150,000 U.S. dollars).

The court said Zhou took 100,000 yuan (about 12,500 U.S. dollars) from a former Fushun Seismological Bureau head, surnamed Li, in 2002. In return Zhou appointed Li vice director of the city's Science and Technology Bureau while keeping his original job.

Zhou received another 100,000 yuan in 2001 from a former hospital president in Fushun who was given the post of vice head of the city's health bureau.

Also in 2001, Zhou received a gift of 50,000 U.S. dollars from the Fushun Tianhu Brewery Company for his "special care" of the company's reform, even though it was in violation of some of China's corporate reform regulations.

The court said Zhou accepted eight bribes during his tenure and five were connected with selling official posts.

The corrupted official was arrested in November last year.

Source: Xinhua