MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Suspended death sentence for corrupt Beijing vice mayor

A former Beijing vice mayor in charge of overseeing Olympic construction projects has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption, a court said Sunday, in a stern warning to wayward Communist officials.

The Intermediate People's Court in Hengshui, a city outside Beijing, delivered the sentence Saturday after finding Liu Zhihua guilty of taking bribes, said a court clerk who would only give his surname, Ma. The sentence will be commuted to life in prison in two years if Liu shows good behaviour. Before his sudden dismissal in 2006 for unspecified corruption, Liu was in charge of urban development in the Chinese capital and headed the office overseeing the 40 billion US dollars being spent by the city on Olympics-related infrastructure projects. Officials said Liu's misdeeds had nothing to do with Olympic projects, but his dismissal put a cloud over preparations for the games and prompted authorities to ratchet up anti-corruption efforts. Liu faced 10 charges for allegedly accepting bribes totalling about one 1 million US dollars and gifts in return for favours to property development companies while he was vice mayor, according to his lawyer Mo Shaoping. Liu was also convicted of helping his mistress, Wang Jianrui, profit from construction projects. However his lawyer said that some of the allegations were dubious, a common claim in a system in which courts are heavily influenced by the Communist Party and corruption charges are sometimes used to punish political opponents. "Liu will probably appeal the verdict, and the final decision will be made soon," Mo said. Liu has 10 days to decide on an appeal. Liu claimed in court that the case was an act of retaliation by a property developer who wanted to have Liu removed because of a dispute over a commercial and residential development across the street from several Olympic venues, Mo said. The city government had seized control of the project, known as the Morgan Center, after developers failed to pay a land fee, and auctioned off the site in 2006, Liu said. Unhappy over the outcome, the building's developer sought to punish Liu by reporting his extramarital affair and other alleged improper dealings to authorities, Mo said, quoting Liu's court testimony.