Ex-security official in Hebei gets 22 years in prison for graft

Wang Shoucheng, former deputy head of the public security bureau in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, was sentenced to 22 years in prison on Wednesday for taking bribes, corruption, abuse of power and holding a huge amount of property with unidentified sources, a local court said.

Wang had made over 20 million yuan ($3 million) from bribes, misappropriated public property valued at 3.4 million yuan and set up secret funds valued at 9.5 million yuan through abuse of power, according to Zhangjiakou's Qiaodong District People's Court, which heard his case.

The court said the sources for his personal assets of 55 million yuan, which was significantly more than his legal income, could not be identified.

In addition to the prison sentence, Wang was also fined 2.5 million yuan.

The investigation into Wang began in July last year, according to the city's supervisory commission.

Wang took advantage of his positions - as political commissar and head of the public security department in Xuanhua county, which is under the administration of Zhangjiakou, and as deputy head of the city's public security bureau - to seek benefits for others in exchange for a lot of property, the court said.

While leading the public security department in Xuanhua, Wang also used his power to provide shelter for a mafia-style crime group, whose case was heard at another local court last month.

Zhang Zhao, Wang's wife, was also charged by local procuratorates for taking advantage of Wang's power to demand property from others, take bribes and seek benefits for others, through which she made 770,000 yuan from 2008 to 2016, according to prosecutors.

Gao Hong, a subsidiary official at the public security department in Xuanhua, set up secret funds at Wang's instigation to collect money from public properties, which led to a 9.5 million yuan loss for the country, the procuratorate said.

The hearing for the trio occurred in September. The court has not announced verdicts against Zhang or Gao.