A former transport official of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption and taking bribes, according to a local court.

Liu Kui, former financial chief of the transport bureau of Guigang City and a local ringroad construction project, and later deputy head of the bureau, was convicted of embezzling more than 130,000 yuan (US$17,000) between 1997 to 2004.

He was also found guilty of accepting 210,000 yuan (US$28,000) and a computer in bribes in exchange for granting economic privileges to bribers, taking advantage of his post, according to the verdict issued by the Intermediate People's Court of the city.

Liu's case is the latest in a series of corruption convictions involving Chinese transport officials. Most of China's transport infrastructure projects are funded and supervised by local governments, meaning they must be approved and supervised by powerful local government officials.

So far, some 20 heads of transport and communication authorities in China have been convicted of corruption charges.

Last month, Zhao Zhanqi, former transport chief of east China's Zhejiang Province, was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes of 6.2 million yuan (US$820,000).

Last year, Wang Xingyao, former transport head of Anhui Province in east China, was sentenced to ten years in jail for accepting bribes totaling 135,300 yuan from a construction company.

In December 2006, Lu Wanli, former transport chief of the southwestern province of Guizhou, was executed after being convicted of taking more than 25.6 million yuan in bribes from June 1998 to January 2002.

The Chinese government has taken strong measures to step up the crackdown on corruption and build a clean government. In the past four years, around 30 deputies to the National People's Congress, the national legislature, and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have been ousted.

(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)