China: Two senior officials jailed for graft

Another Zhou aide from Sichuan, Guo Yongxiang, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday in a separate Hubei court for bribery and other crimes.

Another court sentenced Li Chuncheng, a former top party official in Sichuan Province in southwestern China, to 13 years for the same offense.

Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Monday by a local court in central China’s Hubei Province.

His personal assets worth 1 million yuan (about $160,000) were also confiscated, the Hanjiang Intermediate People’s Court said.

The group was headed by former security czar Zhou Yongkang, who had a long career in the country’s oil industry, and is the highest ranking official arrested in the current corruption crackdown. According to Xinhua News Agency, Jiang and Zhou used their influence at China National Petroleum Corporation from 2004 to 2008 period to help undisclosed sources win bids for oil and gas exploration, gas tribune generation, and natural gas supply contracts. Jiang’s prosecution was part of an effort to root out corruption by Zhou Yongkang, a one-time member of the Politburo Standing Committee, who dominated the Chinese language energy business for greater than three decades with the assistance of Jiang.

Zhou was imprisoned for life in June for accepting bribes, abusing his power and deliberately disclosing State secrets.

By the end of August, 2013, his personal and family property exceeded the legitimate earnings and he had 14.8 million yuan unaccounted, the court said.

In 2013 Jiang was appointed to the Cabinet body that oversees China’s biggest state-owned firms.

He worked under Zhou when the latter was the party boss of Sichuan and also when he became security minister.

Prosecutors alleged Wang, also former general manager of the Daqing oilfield, took advantage of his posts to seek profit, while he allegedly asked for and accepted a substantial amount in bribes.