Zheng Shaodong [file photo]

Zheng Shaodong, the former assistant Minister for Public Security, was sentenced Tuesday to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes and abusing his position, a local intermediate court in northwest China's Shaanxi Province said.

According to a statement from the Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, from 2001 to October 2007, Zheng abused his various positions and accepted bribes worth more than 8.26 million yuan (1.04 million U.S. dollars).

All of Zheng's illicitly-gained assets have been confiscated, the statement said.

From 2001 to 2005, Zheng was deputy head of the Department of Public Security in southern China's Guangdong Province and the director of the economic crimes investigation bureau under the Ministry of Public Security.

In April 2005, he was promoted to assistant Minister of Public Security.

The court also stripped Zheng of his political rights for life and confiscated all his assets, the statement said.