Former Shanxi capital Party chief sentenced for corruption

Chen Chuanping, former Party chief of Taiyuan City, capital of northern China's Shanxi Province, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for taking bribes and abuse of power.

A court in Jiangsu Province Tuesday announced the sentence for Chen, also a former Standing Committee member of the Communist Party of China Shanxi Provincial Committee.

Chen was fined 300,000 yuan (43,188 U.S. dollars), with the court also ordered that the bribes Chen accepted and profit generated from such gains should be confiscated.

The court found Chen took advantage of his official posts from 2008 to 2013 to seek benefits in company production and operations, and in the promotion for others.

He accepted bribes worth over 910,000 yuan by himself or through his wife, according to the court verdict.

When he served as the chairman of state-owned iron and steel enterprises in Shanxi between 2005 and 2007, Chen also abused his power to order a subcompany to engage in large amounts of overseas futures trading, causing losses to state assets of more than 907 million yuan, the court said.

The court said it has decided to hand down a lighter penalty for Chen as he confessed to his crimes, expressed remorse and cooperated in surrendering the bribes. His abuse of power were also intended for the development for his companies, not personal interests, the court ruled. Endi