A former senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official from southwest China was sentenced in Tianjin Wednesday to 15 years in prison for accepting bribes.

Zhang Zonghai used to head the Publicity Department of Chongqing's Municipal Party Committee.

Entrusted by the Supreme People's Court, the No.1 Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin Municipality accepted and heard Zhang's case and held the first trial on Wednesday.

According to the verdict, Zhang received bribes worth 3 million yuan (US$362,000) from 1997 to 2002 from a person surnamed Lei on behalf of the Jinyun Cement Works in Chongqing, and abused the power of his post as secretary of Qianjiang's Prefectural Party Committee to favor Lei's business.

Zhang invested the 3 million yuan in real estate and reaped illegal profits of nearly 1.3 million yuan (US$157,000). All the illicit money has been recovered.

The court gave him a relatively light sentence because he helped retrieve all the money and "confessed his wrong behavior thoroughly."

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2005)