Wang Zhonglu, former vice governor of Zhejiang Province, faces a dozen years behind bars for accepting bribes and abusing his official powers.

The sentence was handed down by the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Tuesday, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Wang, once vice governor of this eastern China's province, became the president and general manager of the Zhejiang International Trust and Investment Company from 1993 to 1998.

He was convicted of abusing his powers to help Sun Dashan, the president and general manager of Zhejiang Land United Company and Hangzhou Huayuan Industrial Ltd Co, to gain profits from loans, land transfers and other businesses.

During 1998 and 2000, Wang accepted 390,000 yuan (US$47,000) in bribes from Sun, in varying amounts on five occasions.

In 1993 and 1994, also during his tenure of office at Zhejiang International Trust and Investment Company, Wang misused his authority on three projects with Shenzhen Golden Sanyuan Building, Jiabin Building and Shanghai Hongfayuan. The abuse resulted in losses to his firm of more than 44 million yuan (US$5.3 million).

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2004)