The Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, capital city of east
China's Shandong
Province, Monday sentenced a former provincial vice-governor to
death for accepting bribes and holding large amounts of assets he
could not account for.
Wang Huaizhong, a former vice-governor of east China's Anhui
Province, is the latest in a string of officials convicted in China
as part of an intensified campaign against corruption.
"In the face of irrefutable evidence, he indulged in sophistry
in every possible way and refused to admit guilt," Xinhua News
Agency quoted the court as saying.
"His attitude was disgusting and he was severely punished in
accordance with the law."
The court convicted Wang of accepting bribes totaling 5.17
million yuan (US$623,000) between September 1994 and March
2001.
Wang was unable to account for another 4.8 million yuan
(US$578,000) in assets seized by the authorities.
He was found to have used most of his money to try to bribe
investigators into dropping an investigation.
Wang, who was taken into custody in April 2001 and expelled from
the Communist Party in September this year, has 10 days to
appeal.
Wang's sentence coincided with the announcement of Hebei
Province's handling of Lu Xianning, former deputy secretary-general
of the standing committee of the provincial People's Congress.
Lu was expelled from the Party and his case transferred to a
judicial department for further investigation, the provincial
disciplinary committee said.
The two cases mark the epilogue of a year that witnessed a new
wave of actions to bring down corrupt officials from provincial
governments.
A total of 12 provincial or ministry-level officials were nabbed
or punished this year, including former Party secretaries of Hebei
and Guizhou provinces, Cheng Weigao and Liu Fangren, former Yunnan
Governor Li Jiating, as well as the former Minister of Land and
Natural Resources Tian Fengshan.
The blacklist also includes well-known names such as Wang
Xuebing, former president of China Construction Bank, and Tian
Fengqi, president of the Liaoning Provincial Higher People's
Court.
According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, procurators
throughout the country investigated more than 38,000 cases
involving 41,797 people alleged of embezzlement, bribery,
dereliction of duty and other crimes, including more than 2,600
government officials at county level or above.
"These measures show the determination of the new generation
leadership to fight corruption and change the bureaucratic styles,"
Xinhua quoted an official with the central disciplinary authority
as saying.
Experts said authorities have been increasing the transparency
of the anti-graft campaign by publicizing details of the cases to
the media.
(China Daily December 30, 2003)