China mine safety official gets life for bribe
By IANSWednesday, November 17, 2010
BEIJING - A coal mine safety official in China was Wednesday sentenced to life in prison for taking nine million yuan ($1.35 million) in bribes, a media report said.
The Intermediate People’s Court in Chongqing municipality announced the verdict in which Wang Xiping, former deputy director of coal mine safety in the Chongqing municipal administration was found guilty, China Daily reported.
Wang was convicted of accepting 5.4 million yuan as bribes from coal mine owners, along with Chen Hongqiang, Wu Jungen and Lin Hua, between August 2000 and July 2009.
Wang was also found guilty of acting on his own when demanding and accepting 3.6 million yuan in bribes from more than 20 coal mine bosses.
Two other accused Chen, a former criminal police officer, and Wu, former chief of the technology and equipment department under the municipal administration, were sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Another accused Lin, who worked at a vehicle rental company, was found guilty of accepting a 50,000-yuan car that he and Wang used. Lin was jailed for one-and-a-half-years.
The four defendants did not appeal the first-instance verdict at the court.
