Ex-Beijing Official Gets Death Sentence

Two-Year Reprieve Issued in Graft Trial

BEIJING, Oct. 19 -- Beijing's former vice mayor received a suspended death sentence for taking more than $1 million in bribes, his attorney and state-run media said Sunday.

Liu Zhihua, 59, oversaw construction, real estate, sports and traffic projects for the Beijing Olympic Games until he was fired in June 2006 on suspicion of corruption. His high-profile antics and "decadent lifestyle" had attracted unwanted attention among the country's top leaders, according to Chinese news media reports.

The Intermediate People's Court of Hengshui, a city outside Beijing, sentenced Liu on Saturday to death, with a two-year reprieve. With good behavior, his sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment.

Liu is the highest-ranking Beijing official to fall from grace since Beijing party boss Chen Xitong was fired for corruption in 1995. Liu was expelled from the Communist Party at the end of 2006, a few months after President Hu Jintao moved to dismiss Chen Liangyu, the party secretary of Shanghai, for directing pension funds into illegal investments.

Liu was charged with accepting more than $1 million in bribes. He abused his power as vice mayor and director of the management committee of Zhongguancun Science Park from 1999 to 2006, doling out contracts, loans and other favors for money, the official New China News Agency reported. The court said bribes were pocketed by Liu and his mistress, Wang Jianrui.

Wang, 48, who worked for a Beijing construction and engineering company, was tried separately last week. Her sentence is pending.

Wang allegedly obtained Liu's assistance in securing projects for a tennis court, hockey ground and archery field at the Olympic Green, the Chinese magazine Caijing reported.

But Liu's attorney, Mo Shaoping, said the accusations against Liu did not mention Olympic construction projects.

Liu allegedly built a 150-room villa in the suburbs of Beijing. He was thought to have several mistresses, one of whom, Zhang Yike, videotaped them having sex. After becoming dissatisfied with Liu, she sent the hour-long tape to party officials, the Chongqing Evening News and Hong Kong China News Agency reported.

Liu, a former coal miner, was elected vice mayor in 1999. He reportedly wept three times during his trial, with his wife and son in attendance. He might appeal because he does not agree with all the accusations, the lawyer said.

"It's necessary to punish corruption because it's an issue of the government's survival," Mo said. "But the punishment should be fair and equal."

The judiciary should be independent and the trial fair, Mo added. "Otherwise, ordinary people will think corrupt officials are not rightly punished but simply have the bad luck to be caught or have a political conflict," he said.

China's judiciary is controlled by the Communist Party and rarely bucks leaders' decisions.

Many Chinese said they were unsurprised by Liu's case.

"Those officials only care about how to grab money. Some corrupt officials are caught, but there are more who are not caught," said Yuan Jianli, 52, a car repairman. "If you stand with the right team, even if you're corrupt, you'll probably be fine. If you're on the wrong team, you'll be caught. Politics in China is too dark, and we ordinary people can do nothing about it."

Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.