The former assistant mayor of Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province, has received a death sentence with a two-year suspension for corruption.

Wang Yan, who had been arrested on October 31 last year, was sentenced on Tuesday after being found guilty of taking bribes of 4.96 million yuan (US$599,000).

Meanwhile, Jiang Renjie, former vice mayor of Suzhou in the eastern province of Jiangsu, has become the latest suspect to be investigated in a national anti-corruption campaign.

Jiang, 56, was removed from his post by the Standing Committee of Suzhou Municipal People's Congress last Friday.

He allegedly abused his powers by accepting bribes after taking his post in February 2001. No details of charges have been released. Jiang was responsible for the city's urban construction, transport, communications and housing.

The government has been campaigning against corruption since August 1993, when an increasing number of graft-involved officials surfaced.

According to the Supreme People's Procuratorate, more than 42,000 state employees, including 2,856 officials above county level, were found to be involved in 36,509 cases of graft, dereliction of duty and other crimes that were investigated in the first 11 months of last year.

(China Daily January 12, 2005)