State official jailed for corruption

A Beijing court has sentenced a former personal secretary of Vice-Commerce Minister Wei Jianguo to 13 years in jail for taking bribes, according to China News Service.

The Beijing No2 Intermediate People's Court yesterday convicted Wu Gongyang , a former division head of a taskforce office under the ministry, of taking 1.21 million yuan in kickbacks from seven mainland companies between 2001 and 2005, to help them get quota allocations to import vehicles and export industrial coke, the report said.

The court said Wu abused his power and took bribes but was given a lenient sentence because he had confessed, according to the report. Wu was quoted as saying he would not appeal against the decision.

But the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said Wu's sentence was to cover up a far more serious corruption scandal, in which a former state leader and six minister-level officials were said to have been implicated.