Former Beijing traffic management chief given life sentence
Xinhua, November 6, 2015 Adjust font size:
Song Jianguo, former head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, was sentenced to life in prison for bribe taking, a local court ruled on Friday.
According to Beijing First Intermediate People's Court, Song took advantage of his position by helping companies and individuals obtain car license plates with the in-demand prefix of Jing A and accepted bribes worth more than 23 million yuan (3.6 million U.S. dollars) between 2004 and 2014.
The Jing A (Jing is a Chinese character representing Beijing) plates are considered privileged by many because they are mostly owned by the government and public institutions.
They were the first batch of plates issued in the 1990s when private cars were rare, though they enjoy no actual privilege on the road, industry insiders said. Many affluent residents pursue them out of vanity.
Song was detained in August 2014 and officially arrested in the following month. He was prosecuted by Beijing First People's Procuratorate in February and went on trial in May. Endi