A disease control official in southern China's Guangdong Province has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for taking more than 2 million yuan (250,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes.

The verdict was handed down by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court on Friday.

Cai Hangang, former head of the Vaccine Section with the Immunity Planning Institute under the Guangdong Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center, was charged with taking advantage of purchasing vaccines to accept bribes of 2.22 million yuan during the period between September 2001 and February 2006, the court heard.

Earlier in September, the director of the center's Immunity Planning Institute, Luo Yaoxing, was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking about 11.2 million yuan in bribes.

Part of the bribes were taken by Cai and Luo together.

Source: Xinhua