China's vice president warned graft could be the end of the ruling Communist Party as a high-ranking provincial official was jailed for 11 years for taking bribes, state press said Tuesday. "Any appearance of corruption if allowed to grow and expand… could lead to the self-destruction of the party," the People's Daily quoted Vice President Zeng Qinghong as saying in a recent speech.
The paper called on the party and government to use the full force of the law to fight rampant official corruption nationwide.
The report appeared as Hou Wujie, the former deputy party secretary of northern China's Shanxi province, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking 880,000 yuan (110,000 dollars) in bribes, Xinhua news agency said.
Hou was found guilty by a Beijing court on Monday, it said.
He was convicted for taking the money and a luxury watch in 2000 from the former deputy director of the public security bureau in Taiyuan city, Shanxi's provincial capital, the report said.
The man was seeking promotion to Taiyuan's top police post, it said.
Hou confessed to the crime and turned over his illicit gains to the state, leading to the "lenient" sentence, the report said.
Hou's conviction comes after reports the former vice governor of eastern Anhui province He Minxu was dismissed from his duties last week and was awaiting trial for taking bribes and engaging in illegal land deals.
Corruption has become a leading cause of social disharmony in China as party and government officials enriched themselves from economic reforms that have favored the powerful.
During the first eight months of the year, China's state auditors uncovered 124.9 billion yuan (15.6 billion dollars) in misappropriated state funds, state press reported Monday.
State auditors have handed over the names of 38 leaders and 92 other officials to judicial authorities for prosecution in the latest "audit storm" against corruption, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
Source: Agence France-Presse
