Society

Official exposed by online diaries gets jail term on bribery

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-12-14 23:02

NANNING -- A tobacco official in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was sentenced to 13 years in prison Tuesday for accepting bribes, after his alleged diaries, depicting briberies and love affairs, were posted online in early 2010.

The sentence for Han Feng, former head of the sales department of Guangxi's Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Nanning City, capital of Guangxi.

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The penalties also included a fine of 100,000 yuan (US$15,020), according to a court statement.

Han was found guilty of accepting 695,000 yuan (US$104,400) in cash and an apartment from others during the past 10 years when he worked in Qinzhou and Laibin cities in Guangxi.

In return, Han helped the bribers obtain profits by taking advantage of his position.

The statement said Han was given a lenient punishment because he voluntarily refunded part of his illegal income.

Han's alleged diaries triggered the public's outcry over his corruption in his work and shady private life, after they were posted and widely read online in February this year.

In March, he was removed from his post and arrested by the regional people's procuratorate.