A former official of Yunnan Province in southwest China has been sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes,a local court said Wednesday.

The Pu'er Municipal Intermediate People's Court ruled on May 15 that Zha Ke, former vice head of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, was guilty of asking for and taking bribes of up to 4 million yuan (586,000 U.S. dollars) from 16 people, according to the Yunnan Provincial Higher People's Court.

Among the bribers, a businessman gave Zha 1 million yuan as he had illegally helped the businessman to win an additional 6.4 million yuan in compensation from the government over land expropriation in 2004, court said.

He also assisted another briber in purchasing land for building three gas stations in 2005 by taking advantage of his post, and he received 260,000 yuan as reward, according to the court verdict.

Zha served his post between 1999 and June, 2008. He was detained by police in July last year over the case.

Zha did not appeal against the court ruling on the day of the sentence.

(Xinhua News Agency May 20, 2009)