6 sentenced for bribing executed top official

Nine months after former Jiangxi vice-governor Hu Changqing was executed, six business executives have been sentenced for their part in bribing him.

In contrast to Hu's punishment, the disgraced businessmen received penalties ranging from suspended jail terms to 18 months in prison.

Hu was convicted and executed in March - then the most senior official to fall victim to the anti-corruption campaign - for accepting bribes between 1996 and early last year.

Xinhua said the cases against the six were heard in three courts in Jiangxi on Monday.

Li Mengping, chairman of the Jiangxi Weimeng Group, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for giving Hu 190,000 yuan (HK$178,600) and US$15,000 (HK$117,000) in bribes. Yan Guanghua, a manager of Jiangxi Tongyong Metal Material Corp, was sentenced to six months for giving him 45,000 yuan.

Nanchang Haiwei Enterprise was fined 100,000 yuan for bribing Hu. Its chairman, Zhou Huaxin, and manager Xiong Haigen were convicted of giving 175,000 yuan and gifts worth 34,400 yuan. Xiong walked free, as he had been in police detention for more than the six months' jail term he received. Zhou was given a one-year suspended sentence.