A court in Shanghai, China's leading industrial center, on Tuesday sentenced a district head to life imprisonment for taking bribes.

Kang Huijun, 52, former deputy head of Shanghai's Pudong New Area District, was charged with taking more than 5.9 million yuan (about US$862,410) in bribes and having 12.11 million yuan without lawful sources, according to the No. 1 Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai.

Kang was the director of the district's economic and trade bureau and general manager of the state-owned Shanghai Lujiazui (Group) Co. Ltd. before he took the post of the deputy district head in 2004, the court said.

He took advantage of his posts to seek private gains for others, including his secretary surnamed He, in return for bribes.

Wang Xiaoqin, Kang's wife, was sentenced to five years for taking 880,000 yuan in bribes with Kang. The court also ordered the confiscation of 600,000 yuan of her personal property.

The couple were found to own more than 30 million yuan of property, of which 18 million yuan was illegal and would be recovered, the court said.

Kang has not decided whether to appeal the sentence, said his lawyer Wang Rong.

(Xinhua News Agency February 3, 2009)