China ex-party official gets life for funds abuse

BEIJING, Nov 26 (Reuters) A former county-level Communist Party official in central China has been jailed for life for misusing social security funds and taking bribes, a Hong Kong newspaper reported today.

A court in Hubei province passed sentence last Thursday on Yang Zhengfa, former deputy party chief of Gongan County, the Ming Pao daily said.

He had been convicted of misusing 25 million yuan in social security funds for stock purchases, diverting 3.9 million yuan from other public funds and taking bribes while in office from 1997 to 2005, the report said.

The report said Yang had confessed to the crimes and repaid the illegally obtained funds.

China is in the midst of a crackdown on official corruption, which the ruling Communist Party says is so widespread that it could threaten the party's credibility.

Last week, the government reported that Chinese courts had heard 3.5 per cent more bribery cases involving civil servants in the first nine months of 2006 than in the same period of 2005.

REUTERS BDP PM1159