Former NE China official sentenced to 14 years for graft

Su Hongzhang, former senior official in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, was sentenced to 14 years in prison by a court in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province on Friday for taking and offering bribes.

Su, formerly a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Liaoning Provincial Committee and head of the committee’s commission for political and legal affairs, was also fined 2 million yuan (around US$290,000), and his illicit gains will be turned over to the state treasury, the Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement.

Su was found to have accepted bribes worth 19.97 million yuan, in return for favor in legal cases, business and promotions, while holding a series of offices in Liaoning between 2004 and 2016.

The court said that Su had offered bribes of 1.1 million yuan to others in exchange for his own promotion in Liaoning from 2010 to 2011.

Su was given relatively lenient treatment in return for cooperating with investigators, handing over the proceeds of his crimes, and surrendering most of his illicit gains.