A former transportation official in north China's Hebei Province was sentenced to 14 years in prison with political rights deprived for three years on bribe-taking charges on Tuesday.

 

Zhang Quan, former deputy director of the Hebei Provincial Department of Transportation, was found guilty of taking bribes between 2002 to 2004, according to a judgment passed by Jingxian People's Court in Jingxian County, Hebei Province.

 

The bribes included 1.623 million yuan (US$200,370) and US$1,000 in cash, 160,000 yuan worth of shares, and 5,000 yuan worth of shopping cards.

 

Approximately 1.7 million yuan in cash has been retrieved and turned over to the national treasury.

 

In mid-December last year, another transportation official Lu Wanli, former director of the Guizhou Department of Transportation, Guizhou Province, was executed on charges of accepting more than 25.6 million yuan (US$3.2 million) in bribes between June 1998 and January 2002.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2006)