China court sentences vice governor to 12 years for corruption

A 50-year-old former vice governor of south China's Hainan Province was today sentenced to 12 years in prison for massive corruption charges.
The Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People's Court handed down the first trial sentence to Ji Wenlin and ordered him to pay 1 million yuan (USD 154,000) in fines.
During the trial, the court heard that Ji took advantage of his posts in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the Ministry of Public Security and Hainan, to seek benefits for others.
He also demanded and received a huge amount of bribes and assets, which investigators suggest could be worth around 20 million yuan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The court said a lenient sentence was given as Ji confessed to his wrongdoings and exposed other criminal evidence during the investigation.
Ji was elected vice governor of Hainan Province in January 2013. He was removed from office and put under investigation by discipline authorities in February 2014.

This is the latest in a series of trials of former high-ranking officials netted in China's anti-corruption campaign started by Chinese Primier Xi Jinping after assuming office in November 2012.
Li Dongsheng, former vice minister of Public Security, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes in January.
Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in October last year.