China has sentenced the former vice chief of its state-run lottery to 10 and a half years in prison for taking bribes, a court statement said Thursday.

Zhang Weihua, 44, the former vice director and legal representative of China's Sports Lottery Administration Center, accepted US$20,000 and a mobile phone worth 7,480 yuan (around US$1,000) from an unlicensed company between September 2003 and 2004 to supply imported paper for lottery tickets.

The company, the Beijing-based Nanhaiyangguang Science and Technology Limited, was later granted the supply contract by Liu Feng, an official in charge of lottery ticket printing.

Liu was found guilty by the First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing City of accepting US$10,000 and 10,000 yuan (US$1,357) from the company and was jailed for four years.

According to the Beijing Evening News, Zhang claimed that he received a moon cake box with US$10,000 inside from the company but returned it soon after he found out.

However, an unnamed witness who gave the moon cake box to Zhang in person said there was 20,000 U.S. dollars and a mobile phone inside, the newspaper said.

Zhang and Li reportedly returned the bribes in 2005, more than a year after they had accepted them, out of fear that they would be found out during the annual government audit.

Zhang has appealed the ruling but the court statement did not say whether Liu has done the same.

The China Welfare Lottery Administrative Center and the Sports Lottery Administrative Center of China General Administration of Sport are the only two legitimate lottery vendors in China and they are both state-run.

China launched its first lottery in June 1987. Lottery ticket sales are one of the major sources of funds for building community sports facilities and financing the country's social welfare programs.

(Xinhua News Agency December 20, 2007)