Bribe-taking east China official gets life sentence

A former Party official of a county in east China's Anhui Province has been sentenced to life in prison for taking bribes, a court statement said on Monday.

Wu Baoliang, 54, former secretary of the Xiaoxian County Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), was convicted of taking huge sums in bribes to seek interests for others, according to the statement issued by Hefei Intermediate People's Court.

Bribes he accepted included 18.69 million yuan (about 3.06 million U.S. dollars) and 42,000 U.S. dollars, as well as gift cards and a wristwatch worth 64,000 yuan and 35,000 yuan respectively during his term from 2003 to 2012, the statement said.

The first-instance verdict by the court also deprived Wu of his political rights for life and confiscated personal assets of 600,000 yuan.

Wu said after the ruling that he would not appeal.

The case is yet another in the latest crackdown on corruption by the CPC that targets both "tigers" and "flies" (metaphors for senior and low-ranking corrupt officials).

Last year, the CPC's discipline inspection agencies punished about 182,000 officials nationwide, 13.3 percent more than in 2012.