High-ranking China official sentenced to life for bribery

A senior Communist Party official was today sentenced to life for accepting bribes, the first high-ranking bureaucrat to be jailed in China's anti- corruption crusade led by President Xi Jinping.
Wang Suyi, 53, a senior ruling Communist Party official from Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was sentenced to life for accepting bribes by Beijing's No.1 Intermediate People's Court.
He was also deprived of political rights for life and all his property has been confiscated, the court ruled.
Wang was a member of the Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a powerful post in the province.

He also headed the United Front Work Department of the regional Party committee.
The court found that Wang had accepted bribes worth more than 10.73 million yuan (USD 1.73 million) on various occasions, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

It was found that he took advantage of his posts and offered business opportunities or promotions to nine companies and individuals, including a local real estate development company and Li Shigui, a former official of the region's Bayannur municipal government, between 2005 and 2013.
All of Wang's illegal gains have been recovered, the court said.
Tday's sentencing was open to the public and the media.

Wang was expelled from the CPC and dismissed from public office for severe disciplinary violations in September last year.
Dozens of officials including some of the senior CPC members at the centre and in the provinces were being prosecuted in the anti-corruption campaign initiated by President Xi after he took over power last year.