Corrupt officials punished in NE China

CHANGCHUN, Jan. 29 -- Two former officials in northeast China's Jilin Province were punished for embezzlement and bribery at the end of 2002, the Jilin Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China said Wednesday in a circular.

Yue Junfeng, former vice-mayor of Baishan City, embezzled 946,000 yuan (114,340 US dollars) of public funds from 1996 to 2002. Yue was sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court on Nov. 19,2002.

Zhou Tonghua, a former senior official with the Jilin Provincial Development Planning Commission, took bribes worth 378,000 yuan (45,707 US dollars) and embezzled public money amounting to 535,800 yuan (64,788 US dollars) from 1997 to 2002. A court in Songyuan City sentenced Zhou to 20 years in prison on Dec. 30, 2002.

Yue and Zhou had been expelled from the Communist Party of China, according to the circular.

Jilin Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection urged Wednesday that Party members and officials at various levels to take the initiative in fighting crimes such as bribery and embezzlement.