The Intermediate People's Court of Bozhou City of east China's
Anhui Province gave a former deputy mayor an eight-year jail term
for accepting bribes totaling about 400,000 yuan (56,000 U.S.
dollars) on Thursday.
Ni Yi was found to have accepted 380,000 yuan (52,700 U.S.
dollars) and a Montblanc watch during his tenures as director of
the municipal land resources bureau and deputy mayor of Bozhou from
1999 to 2007.
In return, Ni helped the bribers in job transfers, obtaining
land use certificates or acquiring land, according to the
court.
Ni refused to accept the judgment of first instance by the court
of Mengcheng County and appealed to the Intermediate People's Court
of Bozhou in December last year.
The court finally ruled that Ni's behavior had constituted the
crime of accepting bribes, but he was given a mitigated jail
sentence as he returned all the bribes and showed a "good attitude
of remorse".
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2008)