Beijing: A former top official at China`s Commerce Ministry was given a suspended death sentence on Thursday for graft including taking bribes from electronics giant GOME, state media said.
A Beijing court convicted Guo Jingyi of taking CNY 8.45 million (USD 1.24 million) in bribes while serving in the ministry`s treaty and law department, the Legal Evening News said.
The 44-year-old graduate of Peking University was also convicted of taking CNY 1.1 million in bribes from GOME, China`s biggest electronics retailer, to help the company trade shares and avoid anti-monopoly probes, the paper said.
A death sentence with a two-year reprieve is usually commuted to life imprisonment.
On Tuesday, GOME founder Huang Guangyu was sentenced to 14 years in jail for bribery and insider trading -- a spectacular fall from grace for a high school dropout who became China`s richest man thanks to his retail empire.
Bureau Report
