Former Beijing Official Receives Death Sentence With Reprieve

Former Beijing Official Receives Death Sentence With Reprieve

BEIJING. Oct. 19 -- Beijing's former vice mayor received a suspended death sentence for taking more than a million dollars in bribes, his lawyer and state-run media said Sunday.

Liu Zhihua, 59, oversaw construction, real estate, sports and traffic projects for the Beijing Olympic Games until he was fired in June 2006 over charges of corruption and bad morals. His high-profile antics and "decadent lifestyle" attracted the shocked attention of the country's top leaders, according to Chinese media reports.

Liu is the highest-ranking Beijing official to be disgraced since Beijing party leader Chen Xitong was fired for corruption in 1995. Liu was expelled from the Communist Party at the end of 2006, a few months after President Hu Jintao moved to dismiss Chen Liangyu, the party secretary of Shanghai, for directing pension funds into illegal investments.

Liu was charged with accepting more than $1 million in bribes. He abused his power as vice mayor and director of the management committee of Zhongguancun Science Park from 1999 to 2006 to get contract projects, loans and other favors for money, the official New China News Agency reported. The court said bribes were pocketed by Liu and his mistress Wang Jianrui.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hengshui, a city outside of Beijing, sentenced Liu Saturday to death with a two-year reprieve. With good behavior, his sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

Wang, 48, who worked for a Beijing construction engineering company, was tried separately last week. Her sentence is pending.

Wang allegedly won projects for a tennis court, hockey ground and archery field at the Olympic Green with Liu's help, the Chinese magazine Caijing reported.

But Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said the accusations against Liu did not mention Olympic construction projects, nor did they mention the founder of a Beijing supermarket chain who was arrested in connection to Liu's case and sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for bribery.

To be more easily entertained, Liu allegedly built a 150-room villa in the suburbs of Beijing. He was believed to have several mistresses, one of whom, Zhang Yike, videotaped them having sex after Liu failed to adequately return her favors. She then sent the hour-long, graphic tape to party officials, the Chongqing Evening News and Hong Kong China News Agency reported.

Liu, a former coal miner, was elected vice mayor in 1999. He reportedly wept three times during his trial, with his wife and son in attendance. He may appeal because he doesn't agree with all the accusations, his lawyer said.

"It's necessary to punish corruption because it's an issue of the government's survival," Mo said. "But the punishment should be fair and equal."

The judiciary should be independent and the investigation and trial fair, Mo added. "Otherwise, ordinary people will think corrupt officials are not rightly punished but simply have the bad luck to be caught or have a political conflict."

But China's judiciary is controlled by the Communist Party and rarely bucks leaders' decisions. Ordinary citizens said they were not surprised by Liu's case.

"Those officials only care about how to grab money. Some corrupt officials are caught, but there are more who are not caught," said Yuan Jianli, 52, a car repairman. "If you stand with the right team, even if you're corrupt, you'll probably be fine. If you're on the wrong team, you'll be caught. Politics in China is too dark, and we ordinary people can do nothing about it."