Ding Xinfa, former provincial procurator-general of east China's Jiangxi Province, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for graft and embezzlement by the local court on Monday.

 

The Intermediate People's Court of Hangzhou, capital city of east China's Zhejiang Province, handed down the verdict in the first instance. Ding's personal assets worth 900,000 yuan (about US$111,250) were confiscated.

 

From 1993 to 2003, Ding took advantage of his posts as director of the provincial bureau of public security and later procurator-general in Jiangxi, to seek personal gain from six people who gave him and his family members bribes of more than 2.75 million yuan (around US$340,000).

 

In 1998, when he was director of the provincial bureau of public security, Ding embezzled 1.1 million yuan (around US$137,500) of public funds for others to run profit-making businesses.

 

All the illicit money and bribes accepted by Ding has been recovered, the court said.

 

The court added that the punishment is relatively lenient because the court took into account the fact that Ding had confessed to most of his crimes, and was active in returning bribes received.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2006)