The former vice president of the Supreme People's Court was convicted of taking more than $574,000 in bribes between 2005 and October 2008, when he was removed from his post. He was also then stripped of his party membership while under investigation.

Huang Songyou, 52, was found also to have embezzled millions in local currency of public funds in 1997 when he was president of the Intermediate People's Court of Zhanjiang, a city in south China's Guangdong province.

Most of the money had been returned after Huang voluntarily pleaded guilty, according to Chinese media reports. But the court ordered that he be stripped of his political rights for life and all of his properties be confiscated.

Huang's case is a landmark in China's struggle against corruption in political and business circles, a sensitive topic for the ruling Communist Party of China as it opens up to the world, a report by the national news agency Xinhua said.

Huang, who was sentenced by the lower Intermediate People's Court of Langfang City in China's northern Hebei province, is the first in the Supreme People's Court to have been removed from office and sentenced over corruption charges.

It is not immediately known whether Huang will appeal his case.

The Supreme People's Court hearing his case also demanded that an educational campaign among judges -- particularly senior judges -- be set up immediately and that Huang's case be used as a "negative example" from which to draw lessons.

Huang's sentence came just after the Communist Party heavily criticized itself for not doing enough -- and soon enough -- to fight corruption, an earlier report by Xinhua said.

Chinese President Hu Jintao opened a three-day meeting in Beijing of the party's internal anti-graft body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, by saying that the party should "fully recognize the situation of the fight against corruption," which was "persistent, complicated and arduous."

He also said that "the graft fight and the promotion of a clean and honest work among party cadres has a great bearing on the party's survival."

Last year at least 15 ministerial or provincial level officials, including heads of state-owned enterprises, were investigated for corruption. Nine of these -- including Huang -- were referred for prosecution, the commission said.

At least 35 senior executives of China's large state-owned enterprises faced corruption charges last year, said a report by Faren Magazine, affiliated to the Legal Daily and overseen by the Ministry of Justice. Another prominent case involved Chen Tonghai, former chairman of China's state-run oil refinery Sinopec. He was found to have taken nearly $30 million in bribes and given a death sentence but was handed a two-year reprieve in July.

In an interview with Xinhua, Professor Huang Zongliang of Beijing University said despite the arrests of many high-ranking officials, the graft situation does not "show any sign of relaxation" and the government is falling behind in its struggle compared with previous years.

He cited the lowly standing of China in the 2009 corruption index of Transparency International, a Berlin-based non-governmental organization. China ranked 72 out of 180 countries and regions.

A September meeting of the anti-graft commission set up the beginnings of an asset-declaration system. Officials should "report their properties and investment as well as employment of their spouse and children." Officials should also monitor who had family living overseas because there have been several cases of corrupt officials who fled the country with huge amounts of public funds.

However, the program is still in its infancy and has been tested only in several cities including Shanghai, the Xinhua report noted.

A report in August by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington think tank, said that an anti-corruption campaign has been launched almost annually since the start of the reform era in 1978. But "there are reasons to believe the Chinese Communist Party is committing more resources to tackling graft this year."

Even so, steps such as the anti-graft commission's attempt to get asset declarations widely practiced may be a step too far for the Hu administration. "Chinese departments charged with fighting corruption and illicit business practices are themselves problematic," the foundation said.

Also difficult to introduce is scrutiny from the media and independent anti-graft agencies for a more open debate. "Even the usually subdued Chinese press has raised queries about whether top-level cadres can be made to disclose their assets, as well as those of their family members. Last month, Study Times, the mouthpiece of the Central Party School, raised eyebrows when it ran an article suggesting that newly hired cadres should set an example by publicizing their personal properties."

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News