Four prison officials in Shanghai have been jailed for taking
bribes and providing preferential treatment to Zhou Zhengyi, a
convicted property tycoon, local courts said Friday.
Zhou Zhengyi, former president of Shanghai-based property firm
Nongkai Development Group, had been charged and convicted for fraud
and stock manipulation.
Zhou was arrested and put into the Shanghai Detention House on
May. 26, 2003, which keeps prisoners awaiting trial. He was
transferred to the Shanghai Tilanqiao Prison on June. 26, 2004,
after being sentenced on June 1, 2004 to a three-year jail
term.
The Shanghai No. 2 People's Court heard that Huang Jian, former
director of the detention house, has taken 400,000 yuan of bribes
(about US$52,600) in return for preferential treatment to Zhou. The
court sentenced Huang to 11 years in prison, and sentenced his wife
to three years in prison for collusion, but gave her a three year
reprieve.
The court also gave jail terms to two other prison officials who
took bribes and offered convenience to Zhou in the prison. Wang
Zhengming, director of the prison affairs department of the
Shanghai Prison Administration, was given two years of imprisonment
and two years reprieve, for taking 41,000 yuan (about US$5,400) of
bribes from people related to Zhou.
Yu Jinbao, a supervisor in the Shanghai Tilanqiao prison, was
sentenced to two years in prison.
The court said Yu had helped his wife to sign a contract to
decorate the house of one of Zhou's relatives. Yu had also written
more than 200 letters to try to get Zhou's sentence commuted, it
said.
Fu Kehu, another supervisor in the prison who was tried in the
Shanghai Hongkou District People's Court, was jailed for two years
for accepting a car worth 77,000 yuan from people related to
Zhou.
Zhou, 45 and also known as Chau Ching-ngai, started business as
a teenager in a wonton noodle shop. In 2002, Forbes estimated
Zhou's wealth at about US$320 million.
In January this year, Zhou was re-arrested on charges of bribery
and forging VAT receipts, just months after being released from
prison in May, last year.
(Xinhua News Agency August 11, 2007)