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Ex-China Mobile exec gets suspended sentence of death

That'll learn him, say bribery-busting beaks

The former deputy general manager of China's largest mobile carrier China Mobile – Zhang Chunjiang – has been sentenced to death with a two-year suspension after he was found guilty of taking bribes.

The Intermediate People's Court of Cangzhou also ordered the confiscation of Zhang's personal assets and stripped him of political privileges.

The court found that Zhang took 7.46m yuan ($1.15m) in bribes between 1994 and 2009 when he was deputy director of the Liaoning provincial postal administration, GM of China Netcom Group and Party chief as well as deputy general manager of China Mobile.

Zhang, 53, had been under investigation since 2009 for a "serious breach of discipline". He was subsequently removed from his post and expelled from the Communist Party of China for "severe violations of the discipline and the law".

Zhang had pleaded guilty and returned the bribe money, according to the court.

His guilty plea and the initial suspended sentence means that Zhang could eventually be given the term of life imprisonment, after two years of good behavior.

He was part of a cabal of ministerial-level officials, which included the former Shenzhen mayor, who were punished as China intensified its fight against corruption.

The Supreme People's Court is in the midst of a crackdown on the widespread practice of corruption and bribery at the higher levels of business and political life. The Court has vowed to continue to hand down death penalties, as a warning to corrupt officials.

The former vice-mayor of Hangzhou and the former vice-mayor of Suzhou were executed on Tuesday for taking large amounts in bribes.

China Daily reports that according to the Supreme People's Court, 28,708 officials were convicted of an abuse of power in 2010 with 5,906 sentenced to more than five years in jail. ®

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