A former vice-mayor of Zhengzhou city in Henan received a life sentence for taking nearly 20 million yuan (HK$23.73 million) of bribes from property developers, local media reported yesterday.
Wang Haiqing, 50, confessed he had received at least 16.7 million in yuan and HK$300,000 from 2005 to 2008 when he was in charge of the Management Committee of Zhengdong New District in the city, according to Henan-based newspaper Dahe Daily.
His trial was heard at the Shangqiu Municipal Intermediate People's Court recently. Wang said he would not appeal, it reported.
The report said Wang had used his power to give approvals to property developers to use farmland for construction. He also took bribes to increase properties' floor area ratios.
The first bribe was for a 225-square-metre apartment with a market value of nearly one million yuan, in 2005. He approved a local company to use its farmland for development in return for three million yuan in 2006.
In order to maintain a certain amount of land for farming, land cannot be used for other purposes without government approval.