CHANGCHUN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Wang Like, a former senior Party official in east China's Jiangsu Province, was on Thursday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking and offering bribes, sheltering and conniving with mafia-like organizations, and forging identity documents.
The Intermediate People's Court in Changchun, Jilin Province, established that Wang, formerly a member of the Standing Committee of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and head of the commission for political and legal affairs of the provincial Party committee, took advantage of his various positions to facilitate others in business operations, securing loans, job transfers, legal cases, and other matters. In return, he illegally accepted money and gifts worth 440 million yuan (about 63.04 million U.S. dollars).
Wang was also found to have offered bribes worth over 97.31 million yuan to other people, including former vice minister of public security Sun Lijun, among the criminal charges brought against Wang.
The total amount of bribes Wang had taken was massive, and his crimes caused a heavy loss to the state and the people, the court said. However, a lenient sentence was granted because Wang had turned himself in, confessed his crimes, and was cooperative in returning his illegal gains.
The court said after the two-year reprieve for his death sentence, Wang's sentence could be commuted to life in prison in accordance with the law, but no further reduction or parole shall be granted. ■
