Zhao Zhanqi, 58, took 6.2 million yuan (US$816,000) in bribes from 1994 to 2006, Huzhou Intermediate People's Court heard.

Zhao held the posts of vice director of the provincial development and planning commission, deputy head of the Xiaoshan airport construction headquarters and head of the provincial communications department, the court heard.

He was arrested last September and went to trial in April on charges of taking bribes, usually under the guise of consultation fees and business loans.

The bribes were often paid through his girlfriend or his son, and Zhao used his authority to influence project tenders and contracts.

The court heard that about 3.5 million yuan had been retrieved.

In 1997, Zhao took 550,000 yuan through his mistress Wang Peiying from the Longyuan Construction Group Co Ltd and helped the company beat 70 other bidders for the contract to build the airport terminal.

He also took bribes to help firms get construction contracts on luggage-handling facilities and a filling station at the airport.

In 2005, he helped the Hangzhou Guoyi Expressway and Bridge Construction Co Ltd win an eight-billion-yuan contract on the highway circling Hangzhou city.

He had hinted to Yu Guoxiang, manager of the company, that he needed money for his son's wedding.

Yu "lent" Zhao three million yuan that was never returned.

Zhao's case is the latest in a series of corruption convictions involving transport officials.

Most transport infrastructure projects are funded and supervised by local governments, meaning they must be approved and supervised by powerful local officials.

Eighteen heads of communications departments have been convicted of corruption.

In December, Lu Wanli, an official in southwest China's Guizhou Province, was executed for bribery.

Lu, former director of the Guizhou Provincial Department of Transport, was found to have taken more than 25.6 million yuan in bribes from June 1998 to January 2002.

On Sunday, the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate issued a warning on "new forms of corruption," including bribes disguised as stocks, houses and gambling wins, and bribes given after their tenures or through relatives or other third parties.