China's offical bribe takers imprisoned

BEIJING - Three cases of Party members buying and selling offices were revealed by the Communist Party of China (CPC) on Friday.

The CPC will tighten discipline regarding promotion of officers, said a statement from the organization department of the CPC Central Committee. Anyone caught can expect severe punishment, the statement said.

Ren Zenglu, a former vice director of Pingliang city people's congress in northwest China's Gansu Province, took bribes from 71 officials and promoted them, from January 2006 to June 2012. He was dismissed in August 2012 and sentenced to life in prison last June. Five who paid the bribes received jail terms and six were dismissed. The rest were dealt with through administrative or internal disciplinary measures, according to the statement.

Wu Zhiming, a former provincial official in east China's Jiangxi Province, received suspended death sentence. He took bribes from 12 officials for promotions, six of whom are now serving jail terms. Six were dismissed, demoted or transferred.

Li Changxuan, former general manager of the Henan branch of state-owned China Grain Reserves Corporation, was sentenced to life imprisonment last July. He was bribed by 16 officials, two of whom were removed from Party posts while the rest were dealt with internally.

The organization department pledged to expose more such cases to deter officials and enable supervision by the public.