A former deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in Shanxi Province and a former vice-chairman of a municipal people's congress in Anhui Province have been put behind bars for taking bribes.

In addition, 14 municipal- and county-level officials in south China's Guangdong Province have also been punished with prison sentences for offering or accepting bribes.

Hou Wujie, 60, the former deputy secretary in Shanxi, received an 11-year sentence on Monday from the Beijing Municipal No 2 Intermediate People's Court for taking bribes worth 880,000 yuan (US$110,000).

He accepted bribes three times from September to November 2000, the court heard. Hou was suspended from his post in December 2004. After his case was investigated, he turned in all illegal money and goods, the court said.

Chen Zhaofeng, former vice- chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chuzhou Municipal People's Congress, the local lawmaking body, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday from the Huainan Intermediate People's Court.

Chen was found to have accepted 2.85 million yuan (US$356,250) from 207 bribes when he worked as deputy head, head and secretary of the county committee of the CPC in Dingyuan County. Chen also abused his power by manipulating project bids and providing jobs or promotions for those bribing him.

There was another 5.45 million yuan (US$680,000) in assets that he could not account for, the court said.

The state confiscated all of Chen's personal assets, more than 8.3 million yuan (US$1.03 million).

By the end of August, more than 1,150 business bribery cases had been investigated in Guangdong Province this year, compared with a total of 1,218 cases between 2003 and 2005, sources with the provincial bribery control office said yesterday.

In the past eight months in Guangdong, 55 major cases have surpassed 1 million yuan (US$125,000) each. A total of 117 cases have involved county- and city-level officials. To date, 186 local officials have been convicted and sent to prison.

China has sent nearly 50,000 corrupt officials to prison during a nationwide anti-corruption drive in the past two years, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate. The campaign is ongoing.

(China Daily September 20, 2006)