The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Li Yuanjiang, former director of the Publicity Department with Guangzhou Municipal Communist Party Committee, to 12 years in prison last Friday. Li was convicted of accepting bribes valued at more than 330,000 yuan (US$40,000), plus US$19,000 and HK$10,000 (US$1,290), between 1991 and 2001. 

He was also fined 100,000 yuan (US$12,000).

The sentence makes Li, who is also the former editor-in-chief of the Guangzhou Daily, the highest-ranking official to be sentenced to prison in the capital of Guangdong Province.

In 1994, Li allegedly took bribes worth 30,000 yuan (US$3,600) from a local property developer after he agreed to purchase a plot of land in Guangzhou's Huadu District at very high price.

On six occasions from 1996 to 2000, Li reportedly accepted from an overseas company bribes valued at US$19,000, plus HK$10,000 (US$1,290), when he decided to import printing equipment and technologies through the company.

Li was also convicted of accepting more than 205,000 yuan (US$24,600) from Tao Jian, director of the Advertising Department of the Guangzhou Daily Group between 1997 and 2000, and of accepting bribes from a number of subordinates seeking promotion.

The court said that it had mitigated Li's punishment because he returned most of the bribes he had taken and admitted guilt when he was detained.

The investigation of Li began after a former Guangzhou Daily Group worker wrote a letter to the local government to report Li's suspected crimes and behavior in the first half of 2001.

The Guangdong provincial and Guangzhou municipal commissions for inspecting discipline established a special task force to investigate the case in June 2001.

The innovative Guangzhou Daily, known for its lively mix of entertainment and society news, has for several years been a top-selling paper in the southern province.

(China Daily September 13, 2004)