Li Dachang, former vice governor of southwest China's Sichuan Province, was sentenced to a seven-year jail term on Tuesday after being convicted of abuse of power.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court heard that Li, as vice provincial governor, had been appointed head of a team assigned to resolve a contract dispute for a power station project. The post included responsibility for a fund to meet compensation claims related to the project.

From December 1999 to January 2000, Li was persuaded by Cong Gang and An Guosheng to give money from the fund to the China Sichuan International Cooperation Company Ltd.

Li breached the fund management guidelines set by the State Council, or the central government, and violated the Sichuan provincial law by concealing the expenditure and fraudulently withdrawing funds.

Cong Gang and An Guosheng spent the money, running up losses of US$5.05 million, of which approximately US$1.2 million were later recovered.

The judges found that Li, in his capacity as a civil servant, was guilty of fraud for personal gain, resulting in serious losses of state assets.

Li was one of the ten provincial-level officials who were given sentences for corruption and power abuse in recent years, demonstrating Chinese government's resolution to the fight against corruption.

Xiao Yang, chief judge and president of the Supreme People's Court, said in his report to the fourth session of the Tenth National People's Congress in March that in the fight against corruption and other job-related crimes, Chinese courts convicted six provincial and ministerial officials to prison in 2005, the same as in 2004.

The most notorious convicted provincial or ministerial level officials who were given sentences for corruption in 2005 were Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources who were sentenced to life imprisonment, and Han Guizhi, former chairman of Heilongjiang Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference who was given death penalty with a two-year reprieve.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2006)