Ma De, former secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) municipal committee of Suihua City in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension at Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday for accepting bribes.

According to the verdict, from October 1993 to February 2002, Ma took advantage of his posts as deputy mayor of Mudanjiang City, Suihua prefectural commissioner and CPC municipal committee secretary to advance other's interests in exchange for money.

Ma, either alone or together with his wife Tian Yazhi, whose case will be heard separately, took bribes worth 6 million yuan (US$743,500), comprising 5.6 million yuan and US$55,000. All the illicit money has now been recovered.

Over 260 government officials are alleged to have been involved in the corruption, and in Suihua alone some 50 department heads promoted after paying bribes.

The court said that because Ma provided previously uncovered facts about the case and helped expose the crimes of other officials, his death sentence was suspended. He was also deprived of his political rights for life and all his personal assets were confiscated.

Wang Shenyi, former deputy secretary of Suihua's CPC municipal committee, was sentenced by the same court on the same day to 15 years in prison and had 150,000 yuan (US$18,000) confiscated for taking bribes.

The verdict said that from May 2000 to August 2002, Wang took advantage of his posts as CPC deputy secretary in Suihua and as mayor of the city to reduce or exempt tax and fees for others, and allocate public funds to them, after accepting bribes worth 1.9 million yuan (US$233,000).

Again, it said the fact Wang had helped prosecuting bodies with their enquiries had reduced his punishment.

(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2005)