Corrupt official's son also jailed

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-05 08:01

SHANGHAI -- Chen Weili, son of the former Party chief of Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was sentenced on Sunday to three years' imprisonment with four years' probation.

Chen Weili told the court he will not appeal.

It was reported that Chen and his father played key roles in illegally siphoning money from the Shanghai social security fund to invest in highway construction and real estate development.

The Huawen Media Investment Corp was one of the companies that received a 1 billion yuan ($140 million) trust loan from the pension fund.

Chen Weili was hired as a vice-general manager of a subsidiary company of Huawen, Hong Kong Huawen Ltd. He received a high salary without actually doing any work.

He also received a salary from the Shanghai Shenhua Football Club as a vice-general manager.

Gao Zicheng, lawyer for Chen Weili, said after the trial that the appropriate sentence was imprisonment and probation, but not a fine as well.

Chen Liangyu, who was appointed mayor of Shanghai in February 2002, and secretary of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee in October of that year, was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment for bribery and abuse of power in April by the Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court.

The court also confiscated 300,000 yuan of his personal assets.

As Shanghai's Party chief, Chen used public funds, including the Shanghai pension fund, to benefit himself and family members. Six other officials and prominent businessmen were also involved in the case.