No parole for high-ranking Party boss

In a deepening of China's anti-corruption campaign, a high-ranking official accused of taking large bribes will, for the first time, have no chance of parole after receiving a suspended death sentence under the nation's revised Criminal Law.

Bai Enpei, 70, was the first official at the level of senior lawmaker with the National People's Congress to be given such a harsh sentence since the law's revision last October.

The former Communist Party boss of Qinghai and Yunnan provinces was accused of taking bribes and given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve on Sunday. That sentence is typically commuted to a life sentence if the convict is involved in no further crimes during the two-year period.