Former senior Jiangsu official sentenced to four years

HANGZHOU -- Zhao Shaolin, a former provincial-level official in east China's Jiangsu Province, was sentenced by a court in Zhejiang Province to four years in prison Thursday for graft and illegally purchasing foreign exchange.

Zhao, a former member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Jiangsu provincial committee and secretary-general of the provincial Party committee, was also fined 15 million yuan (2.18 million U.S. dollars), according to a statement from Ningbo City Intermediate People's Court.

Zhao was found guilty of seeking benefits for his son Zhao Jin's real estate business, and offered bribes totalling almost 4.45 million yuan to others together with his son from 2007 to 2014.

In addition, Zhao also helped his son purchase more than 41.7 million U.S. dollars by falsifying official foreign trade contracts and approval documents.

The court issued a lesser punishment because Zhao was an accessary to the crime of purchasing foreign exchange through deception, moreover, he confessed to his crimes, cooperated with the authorities to recover his illicit gains, and informed on other major offenders.