A Chinese official implicated in the country's biggest drug scandal was sentenced to seven years prison Sunday for taking 160,000 yuan (US$22,000) in bribes, the Beijing News reported Monday.

Liu Yongjiu, former deputy secretary general of the China Pharmaceutical Association (CPA), was sentenced by Beijing's Xicheng District Court for receiving bribes from a Guizhou pharmaceutical manufacturer and an advertising agency, the newspaper said.

The 49-year-old acknowledged taking bribes, but claimed all the money went to Cao Wenzhuang, former drug registration division chief of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). The latter received a death sentence with two years reprieve in August for taking two million yuan in bribes.

Liu and Cao's cases were both related to their boss, Zheng Xiaoyu, former SFDA administrator, who was investigated for corruption just after his retirement. He was executed in July for taking 6.49 million yuan in bribes and dereliction of duty.

Liu claimed in court he was not a government employee. Therefore, he should receive a lesser punishment than government employees who took bribes. But the court rejected his claim and ruled that although the CPA was a non-profit organization, its key management members were SFDA nominated and approved.

Liu's status was equivalent to a SFDA deputy division chief, and Zheng himself was the CPA president after retiring from the job of SFDA administrator, according to the court ruling reported by the newspaper.

The punishment for Liu was not the most severe for his crime. The court took into consideration that he chose to confess even before being taken into custody by the law enforcement agent and voluntarily returned illegally-obtained gains.

Liu has appealed to a higher court.

Other punishments saw Lu Aiying, an assistant supervisor with Cao's division, sentenced to 14 years in jail, while Wang Guorong, the former deputy secretary general of China Pharmacopoeia Committee, received life imprisonment.

(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2007)