Former Party chief sentenced to 17 years in prison

The former Party chief of Guyuan county in Hebei province has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for corruption and possessing a large amount of property from undisclosed sources, the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court said.

Liu Fucheng accepted bribes when he held leading positions in the Chicheng and Guyuan counties of Zhangjiakou city from 2003 to 2012, totaling 7.38 million yuan ($1.21 million) in cash and four gold bars (with a total weight of 400 grams), according to the investigation conducted by the Xinhua District People's Procuratorate in Shijiazhuang, the province's capital city.

In addition, he had a huge amount of property from undisclosed sources valued at about 5.56 million yuan. All the money and objects received as bribes has been recovered, according to a report from Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.

The report said the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People's Court made its first trial decision recently that Liu was guilty of taking bribes and holding property from undisclosed sources and sentenced him to 17 years' imprisonment, and also fined him 700,000 yuan.

Liu accepted the judgment and punishment handed down by the court.