A local court of east China's Shandong Province has handed down a death
penalty with a two-year reprieve to He Minxu, former vice- governor
of eastern Anhui Province, for taking huge bribes.
The Intermediate People's Court of Linyi City also deprived He
of his political rights for life, and ordered confiscation of all
He's personal property.
The court found that from 1991 to May 2006 during He's tenure in
various posts, he accepted and solicited bribes totaling 8.41
million yuan (US$1.12 million) from 27 organizations and
individuals.
Court sources said it issued the suspended death sentence
because "He had taken the initiative to confess his crimes".
The court was told He was quite cooperative during the
investigation. He turned in bribes totaling 4.38 million yuan
(US$584,000), and exposed others who were involved in misconduct.
They were later proved to have committed major crimes.
He, a native of Yishui, Shandong, held many official posts. They
included deputy chief of the labor bureau of Zhejiang Province, Party secretary of Lishui
Prefecture, also in Zhejiang, and Party chief of Chizhou Prefecture
in Anhui Province. He was promoted to Anhui vice-governor in May
2005.
He is the first high-ranking official to be tried since the
conclusion of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party
of China (CPC) in October and the third high-level official from
Anhui to be tried for corruption.
Wang Huaizhong, a former vice-governor of Anhui, was sentenced
to death in 2003 by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court. He was
found guilty of taking bribes valued at 5.17 million yuan
(US$623,000) between 1994 to 2001 and possessing 4.8 million yuan
(US$640,000) for which he could not account. He was given a lethal
injection in February 2004.
Wang Zhaoyao, former deputy secretary of the Anhui Provincial
CPC Committee was sentenced to death by the same court with a
two-year reprieve in January.
(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2007)