By Xinhua
Kunming (China) : A former official of transport department of Yunnan province, who fled to Singapore and was extradited to China, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday for corruption.
Hu Xing, who had served as a deputy director in the department, was also deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal property was confiscated, as per the sentence handed down at the Municipal Intermediate People’s Court of Kunming, capital of Yunnan.
Hu was convicted of abusing his authority to take more than 40 million yuan ($5.3 million) in bribes, including an apartment valued at 247,980 yuan, according to the verdict.
“Hu perpetrated a serious economic crime, involving a huge amount of bribes, the largest ever in Yunnan, which aroused great public concern,” said Cai Shunbin, a court spokesman.
In one case, Hu accepted 10 million Hong Kong dollars and five million yuan in bribes.
The judges took into consideration that Hu, on his own initiative, had confessed all his crimes during interrogation, most of which investigators did not know, and he had returned all his illegal earnings, Cai said, suggesting the sentence was lenient.
“The verdict is expected to help encourage other corrupt Chinese officials involved in economic crimes who had fled overseas to come back to surrender to police and face justice,” the court spokesman said, without explanation.
Media reports said Hu also allegedly took advantage of his post to help relatives profit from his activities. He allegedly kept a mistress and had “illegitimate relationships” with other women, but these charges were not mentioned in court.
Hu disappeared in January while local authorities were investigating a major economic crime, in which his involvement was suspected. Hu was arrested in Singapore Feb 18 this year.
Chinese police have traced more than 300 wanted officials who have allegedly fled abroad with illegal earnings since 1998, said Wu Heping, spokesman of the public security department.
Thirty-seven officials were arrested and returned to China in 2006.