The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yu Huafeng, former deputy editor-in-chief of Guangzhou's Southern Metropolis News, and Li Minying, former member of editorial board of the Nanfang Daily Group, to eight years and six years in jail, respectively.

Yu was originally sentenced to 12 years and Li to 11 by the Guangzhou Dongshan District People's Court three months ago. Both Yu and Li appealed to the intermediate people's court.

The intermediate court reduced the sentences, saying the original verdict was correct but the jail terms for the two defendants were inappropriate.

The appeal hearing at the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court began earlier this month.

Yu was convicted of siphoning public funds in the amount of 580,000 yuan (US$70,000) between January 2001 and April 2002. He shared the money with eight other members of the newspaper's editorial board, keeping 100,000 yuan (US$12,000) for himself.

He was also found to have offered bribes worth 800,000 yuan (US$96,736) to Li in two separate instances. Li was in charge of the Southern Metropolis News, a subsidiary newspaper of the Nanfang Daily Group.

Li was convicted for accepting more than 970,000 yuan (US$117,000) in bribes on four separate occasions between 2000 and 2003.

Cheng Yizhong, former editor-in-chief of the Southern Metropolis News, is suspected of being involved in the case He has been dismissed from his post and is now under investigation.

The Southern Metropolis News is one of the most popular, successful but controversial newspapers in China. Its profits topped 160 million yuan (US$19 million) last year.

(China Daily June 16, 2004)