A top county official, convicted of taking bribes in return for granting promotions, has been sentenced to 15 years.

Wu Baoan, former Communist Party secretary of Jicheng County in north China's Shanxi Province, was found guilty of taking bribes amounting to 888,000 yuan (US$110,000) from 28 local officials between 2000 and 2004, China Youth Daily reported yesterday.

Wang Linfeng, Wu's wife, was given a two-year sentence, suspended for three years, for possessing more than 4 million yuan (US$495,000) that the couple were unable to account for.

All the couple's corrupt earnings have been confiscated and turned over to the national treasury, the newspaper said

The sentences were passed by the province's Yangquan Intermediate People's Court in a first ruling on the case.

Wu, 36, has appealed the court's decision and is waiting for a final verdict by a higher court.

Investigators traced more than 7.8 million yuan (US$964,900) of bribes, including bank deposits and US$89,591 cash seized from Wu's home.

All of the money was frozen during investigation of the case.

Anti-corruption agencies found Wu had illegally used his influence to help those willing to pay for promotion.

Local officials complained that Wu hinted they could be promoted only by giving him money. If they did not pay, they said, they feared they could lose their present positions.

Locals dubbed Wu, the Party secretary, "a secretary selling official positions."

Property illegally owned by Wu amounted to more than 5 million yuan (US$618,600), only eight months after taking office as the county's Party secretary in September 2003.

He had held high office in the county since 2000.

More and more "visitors" were found to have flocked to Wu's house to buy promotions after he became Party secretary, the top official in the county.

Wu's wife deposited bribes in bank accounts opened under the names of his brother, sister, children and other relatives, the newspaper reported.

Bank records showed that his deposits increased rapidly after he took office in 2003 with an average of 200,000 yuan (US$24,700) deposited each time.

(China Daily November 22, 2005)