A former senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official from
southwest China was sentenced in Tianjin Wednesday to 15 years in
prison for accepting bribes.
Zhang Zonghai used to head the Publicity Department of Chongqing's
Municipal Party Committee.
Entrusted by the Supreme People's Court, the No.1 Intermediate
People's Court of Tianjin Municipality accepted and heard Zhang's
case and held the first trial on Wednesday.
According to the verdict, Zhang received bribes worth 3 million
yuan (US$362,000) from 1997 to 2002 from a person surnamed Lei on
behalf of the Jinyun Cement Works in Chongqing, and abused the
power of his post as secretary of Qianjiang's Prefectural Party
Committee to favor Lei's business.
Zhang invested the 3 million yuan in real estate and reaped
illegal profits of nearly 1.3 million yuan (US$157,000). All the
illicit money has been recovered.
The court gave him a relatively light sentence because he helped
retrieve all the money and "confessed his wrong behavior
thoroughly."
(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2005)