Wang Ju, former vice mayor of Shenzhen, a south China boomtown, has been sentenced to 20 years prison for corruption and abuse of power.

The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People's Courtof Guangzhou City, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, ina first-instance trial held on Saturday.

Wang, 61, a native of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, actedas deputy secretary-general of the Shenzhen City Government, and head of the bureaus for state land administration, and construction, and was also deputy director of the committee for management of Futian Bonded Zone, Shenzhen City, from 1987 to 1995.

Wang was appointed deputy mayor of Shenzhen in May 1995 and wasput in charge of urban construction, planning and state land development. He was re-elected to deputy chairman of the standing committee of the third Shenzhen People's Congress in June 2000.

The court verdict said Wang started to take bribes in 1991 whenhe was deputy secretary-general of Shenzhen City Government.

His bribes include 780,000 yuan (about 93,976 US dollars), 173,000 Hong Kong dollars, and 3,000 US dollars, all in cash.

Wang's abuse of power was highlighted when he secured a piece of land at an alarmingly low price for his son-in-law in 1997. Because of the impact of Wang, and the help of Pang Chenghong, whowas then deputy head of Shenzhen City Bureau for State Land Administration and Planning, who was later convicted, Wang's son in-law succeeded in purchasing the land, but the deal caused a state loss of 127.78 million yuan (about 15.4 million US dollars).

Wang was detained soon in June 2000 and he was arrested in September 2001.

According to Saturday's court ruling, Wang was also given a fine of 1 million yuan (about 120,482 US dollars) and was sentenced to be stripped of all his illicit money, in addition to 20 years prison.

Wang said he would appeal to a higher court.

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