In a move to step up the fight against corruption among officials, a vice-governor of Liaoning Province has been sacked and a former vice-mayor in the southern city of Shenzhen has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

Liu Ketian, vice-mayor of Liaoning's capital Shenyang in the early 1990s and former vice-governor since 1995, was sacked last week for taking bribes, the Beijing Youth Daily reported yesterday, without giving the figures involved.

He was also relieved of his post as a deputy to the provincial People's Congress and is expected to face judicial charges later.

Separately, Wang Ju, former vice-mayor of Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, and deputy director of the city's People's Congress, was sentenced over the weekend by Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court to 20 years in jail for taking large sums of bribe money and neglecting his duties.

Wang, was investigated to have accepted bribes valued at more than 830,000 yuan (about US$100,000) plus HK$123,000 (US$15,850) and US$3,000 when he was in office between 1991 and 2000.

And Wang's neglect of his duties also caused economic losses for the State valued at more than 100 million yuan (US$12 million).

In 1996, Wang who used to be in charge of urban planning and development in Shenzhen, illegally approved a piece of land at a very low price in Shenzhen's busiest area for his son-in-law for property development.

More than 780,000 yuan (US$93,970) plus HK$173,000 (US$22,290) and US$3,000 worth of Wang's income was confiscated, as it was considered to be illegally obtained.

Wang, who had been expelled from the Communist Party of China before he was brought to court for public trial, was detained during the second half of 2000.

Wang became the highest-ranking Party and government official to be sentenced to serve a jail term in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone.

In another case judged by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, Liang Liwei, former vice-chairman of board of directors and general manager of the Guangzhou Dongshan Department Store Group, a State-owned retail company, was also sentenced to 20 years in jail.

He was found to have taken bribes valued at 820,000 yuan (US$98,790) plus gifts worth 240,710 yuan (US$29,000) from 1996 to 2000.

Meanwhile, Liang was found to have more than 4 million yuan (US$481,930) worth of cash and property that he could not explain to authorities. Liang was investigated to have at least four properties in Guangzhou's city proper and plenty of foreign currency deposits in banks in Hong Kong.

More than 650,000 yuan (US$78,313) worth of the illegal income Liang earned when he was in office was also confiscated by the court.

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