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Chen gets 18 years for corruption

By Cao Li and Wang Yu (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-12 09:16

Former Shanghai Party chief Chen Liangyu was sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and abuse of power by a Tianjin court on Friday.

Related readings:  Chen Liangyu expelled from CPC  Chen Liangyu will not attend NPC annual session

The Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court also confiscated 300,000 yuan ($42,800) worth of personal assets of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Between 1988 and 2006, Chen took advantage of his positions as head of the Huangpu district government, vice-mayor and mayor of Shanghai, and deputy secretary and secretary of the city's CPC committee to seek favors for Shanghai New Huangpu Group Co and Shanghai Shenhua Football Club, among others, the court ruling said.

He helped the companies obtain subsidies or compensation for relocation projects, it said.

Chen asked for or received bribes totaling more than 2.39 million yuan ($340,000). But after the case was uncovered, he urged his family members to return the ill-gotten money, the court said.

In 2002, when Chen was acting mayor and mayor, he asked the State-owned Shanghai Chengtou Investment Co to sell its shares in Shanghai Road and Bridge Development Co Ltd at a discount to Fuxi Investment Co Ltd, owned by Zhang Rongkun. The deal cost the State coffers 320 million yuan ($45.8 million), the court said.

Zhang, 35, was sentenced to 19 years in prison earlier this week in a separate ruling.

In 2004, Chen helped Fuxi secure 1 billion yuan ($140 million) in funding from the Shanghai social security fund, putting public funds at risk, the court said.

Between 2002 and 2003, when Chen was mayor and Party secretary, he helped his younger brother Chen Liangjun obtain 354 mu (23.6 hectares) of land. The deal cost the State about 34 million yuan ($4.9 million), the court said.

Liangjun later sold the land for a profit of 118 million yuan ($16.9 million).

Chen received vast sums of money in bribes, abused his power and caused huge losses to the country, the court said.

But given he had confessed to his crimes and returned the illicit money, the sentence was lenient, it said.

TV footage showed a haggard, white-haired Chen, flanked by two police officers, stand emotionless as the verdict was read out.

Before the sentence was announced, his lawyer Gao Zicheng said Chen's physical condition was sound.