Former official gets 20 years for bribery

A former vice-ministerial official in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region was sentenced by a local court on Tuesday to 20 years in jail for taking and offering bribes.

Pan Yiyang, former vice-chairman of the Inner Mongolia regional government, accepted money and assets worth 86 million yuan ($12.5 million) from February 1999 to September 2014 while serving as a senior official in Jiangxi province and Inner Mongolia.

In return, he helped with business operations and getting mining exploration rights, according to the verdict by the Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People's Court.