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February 9, 2010

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Former Anhui official receives death reprieve in bribery case

A FORMER official in Anhui Province was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve yesterday for taking bribes and framing an informant.

Zhang Zhi'an, the former Party chief of the Yingquan District of Anhui's Fuyang City, was handed the sentence by the Intermediate People's Court of Wuhu City.

Zhang, nicknamed the "White House Secretary" because of his extravagant office building, was also deprived of political rights for life, and all his personal property was confiscated.

It was unknown whether Zhang would appeal.

Wang Cheng, a former head prosecutor of Yingquan District was sentenced to six years imprisonment for helping Zhang frame Li Guofu, a whistle-blower in Zhang's case.

Zhang gained the nickname in 2007 after pictures of the district's extravagant office building, which looks identical to the White House, appeared online.

He spent more than 30 million yuan (US$4.39 million) to build the "White House" in Anhui's poorest county. Every a chair in the office cost at least 50,000 yuan. The decoration was stunningly luxurious too, Xinhua news agency reported.

After Zhang was sacked due to the scandal, 13 local officials were sacked after they had given Zhang bribes in exchange for promotions, Xinhua reported.

Prosecutors said Zhang abused power, solicited 3.6 million yuan in bribes, and faked false charges against Li, who used to work under Zhang as director of an economic bureau.

Li started to write letters to Zhang's supervisors to report on his illegal acquisition of farmland and construction of luxury office buildings. Zhang found out about Li's letters and urged Wang to press false charges against him.

Zhang fabricated documents as evidence of Li embezzling nearly 1 million yuan of public funds. Li was detained on August 26, 2007.

Li was said to have killed himself in a prison hospital on March 13, 2008, a week after his case went to court.




 

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