Two senior officials were sentencedto lengthy prison terms for corruption in this capital city of southwest Yunnan province on Thursday.

Peng Muyu, former head of the provincial foreign trade department of Yunnan was given five years in prison for taking bribes and embezzling public funds, according to the Kunming Intermediate People's Court.

When approving a project of a company, Peng Muyu allowed his wife to receive furniture worth 105,300 yuan (US$12,700), a diamond ring, and other articles.

In addition, Mu also used his power to embezzle public funds tofinance firms that his wife ran or held shares in, according to the court.

Sheng Jiuling, former deputy general manager of Yunnan Power Group, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking bribes and possessing money without being able to account for its source.

In 1996, Sheng helped a company to win a bid for a public powerproject, and the head of the company gave Sheng 200,000 yuan as a reward years later. Sheng also abused his power to provide illegalassistance to several other companies and took bribes.

Sheng had a huge amount of money which was in unreasonable proportion to his income as a government employee, and he still can not explain clearly the source of some 1.8 million yuan worth of assets.

The court decided to retrieve and confiscate all the money and assets Sheng had obtained illegally.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2003)