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A senior provincial official who had helped the smuggling kingpin Lai Changxing to illegally emigrate to Hong Kong has been sentenced to 15 years in jail after being convicted of corruption, local newspaper Huashang Bao reported on Tuesday.
Shaanxi Province's supreme court, Monday, sentenced Zhang Yonghui, former director of Shaanxi Provincial Security Bureau, to prison for taking bribes of 50,000 yuan (US$6,048.29) and 950,000 Hong Kong dollars.
During the trial, the prosecutor revealed that Zhang helped Lai and 57 others to obtain one-way permits to Hong Kong, which allowed them to settle in the territory.
The prosecutor said Zhang's action resulted in grave consequences, enabling Lai to return later to his native province of Fujian as a Hong Kong businessman and launch a massive smuggling operation which resulted in serious economic losses for China.
Lai, the country's most-wanted fugitive, is currently under Canadian custody. China hopes the Canadian Government deports him to China as soon as possible.
(China Daily July 16, 2002)
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