Chinese corruption partner gets life

Cheng (right) was sentenced to death last month

A Beijing court has sentenced the lover of a top lawmaker to life imprisonment for helping him take $5m in bribes.

Li Ping was also found guilty of smuggling though details of the charge were not given.

Guangxi's list of shame

Li Chenglong(official), executed

Cheng Kejie(official), death penalty

Li Ping(Cheng's lover), life imprisonment

Xu Bingsong(official), life imprisonment

The former governor of Guangxi region, Cheng Kejie, who was also vice-chairman of the standing committee of the National People's Congress, was sentenced to death in July.

Cheng has appealed but if the sentence is carried out, he will be the most senior official to be executed for bribery since the Communist Party came to power in 1949.

Conspiracy

The Chinese press has detailed how the two lovers conspired to abuse Cheng's power in the poor southern region of Guangxi between 1992 and 1998.

State media said Li acted as an lure for Cheng to attract bribes, including diamond rings and expensive watches, in return for selling state land cheaply, granting development contracts and promoting colleagues.

Coastal Guangxi is notorious for piracy and smuggling.

The pair was caught on video gambling heavily in casinos.

Guangxi is a hotbed of smugglers and drug dealers

They allegedly planned to divorce their respective spouses and get married after they had accumulated enough money to maintain their lives together.

Li is reported to have met Cheng in 1992 when working at a hotel owned by the Guangxi government and became his lover soon after.

War against corruption

Li and Cheng's sentences are seen as a warning that the government is serious about its fight against corruption.

President Jiang Zemin has announced a full-scale war against corruption in the Communist Party.

Thousands of officials accused of abuses have been fired, fined, imprisoned, expelled from the party and in some cases executed.

In Guangxi alone, there has already been one execution and a number of arrests.

A vice-chairman of the provincial government, Li Chenglong, was convicted and executed in April for corruption.

Xu Bingsong, also a vice-chairman of the provincial government, was given a life sentence last summer for his role in a $66,000 corruption scandal.