?A former city secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee was sentenced to ten and a half years in imprisonment for accepting bribes, court sources said on Saturday.

Xu Funing, former secretary of the CPC committee of Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province, also had his personal property of 100,000 yuan (US$12,345) confiscated.

According to the Intermediate People's Court of Jiaxing City, Xu misused his power in approving construction projects and launching schools to seek personal gains, taking bribes totaling 570,000 yuan (US$70,400), including US$35,000 and 26,800 yuan in cash, from 2000 to August 2005.

Xu has been expelled from the Party organization.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2006)