(Reuter)
Updated: 2007-08-10 23:06

SHANGHAI - A Shanghai court has punished four former prison officials who helped ease a jailed Chinese tycoon's time behind bars in exchange for money, state media said on Friday.

The four officials were given up to 11 years in jail, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Zhou Zhengyi, once named China's 11th richest man with an estimated worth of $320 million, was released from prison in 2006 after serving a three-year sentence for stock market fraud and falsifying documents.

Huang Jian, once head of the Shanghai prison system, and his wife received more than 400,000 yuan ($52,820) from Zhou in exchange for "looking after him and sending letters and documents for him", Xinhua added.

Zhou, a former snack-shop owner who rose to become president of Shanghai-based property firm Nongkai Development (Group) Co, was re-arrested in January on corruption charges.

($1=7.573 Yuan)