2011-01-26 19:13

GUIYANG - A former vice president of a Chinese regional court was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve Wednesday after being convicted of graft charges.

Zhang Tao, former vice president of the Superior People's Court of Chongqing municipality in Southwest China, was convicted of taking bribes and sheltering criminal gangs from 1999 to 2009, said the verdict from the Intermediate People's Court of Zunyi City in neighboring Guizhou province.

Zhang, born in 1963, illegally received money and materials worth 9.02 million yuan ($1.37 million) and offered benefits in return for bribes during his tenure as vice president of the No 1 Intermediate People's Court of Chongqing and after his promotion to the superior court in 2002.

Court investigations also found Zhang had frequently visited and gambled at a nightclub run by a gang leader, invested in the club, practised usury and colluded in organized gang crimes led by the club-owner.

Zhang holds a postdoctoral degree and was selected as one of Chongqing's 10 outstanding legal experts in 2002.

He was stripped of his court post in 2009.