A disease control official in southern China's Guangdong Province has been sentenced to 11 years in jail for taking more than 2 million yuan (US$250,000) in bribes.

 

The verdict was handed down by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate People's Court on Friday.

 

Cai Hangang, former head of the Vaccine Section with the Immunity Planning Institute under the Guangdong Provincial Disease Control and Prevention Center, was charged with taking advantage of purchasing vaccines to accept bribes of 2.22 million yuan during the period between September 2001 and February 2006, the court heard.

 

Earlier in September, the director of the center's Immunity Planning Institute Luo Yaoxing was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking about 11.2 million yuan in bribes.

 

Part of the bribes were taken by Cai and Luo together.

 

In another corruption case, a former vice director of Beijing Seismological Bureau was jailed for 11 years on Friday for fraudulently claiming 300,000 yuan (US$37,500) for maintenance work.

 

Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court heard that Du Fulai, 51, falsified a contract with a private construction decoration firm to renovate a seismological station in Beijing's suburbs.

 

Du was convicted on corruption charges and made no comments on whether he will appeal.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 9, 2006)