A former regional Communist Party official implicated in a s-éx scandal that has transfixed China was sentenced today to 13 years in jail for taking a lot more than 3.1 million yuan ($500,000) in bribes.
Lei Zhengfu, a portly, pop-eyed ex-secretary of an area in southwestern China's Chongqing, was caught on video having s-éx having an 18-year-old mistress, with the clip ricocheting around China's gossip-obsessed Internet when it surfaced last November.
The encounter turned out to become a sting operation by a house developer hoping to blackmail Lei, 55, into favorable commercial decisions, Chinese media reported.
When blackmailed with the s-éx video, Lei asked another property developer who had benefited from his patronagé to pay hush money of 3.1million yuan.
Lei was fired, then charged last month with corruption, which posesses maximum penalty of death.
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Lei argued that the cash was a loan, but prosecutors said the cash - that has been not fully repaid - amounted to a bribe.
His punishment also incorporates confiscation of personal assets of 300,000 yuan ($48,000).
Lei didn't say whether he would appeal the verdict by the city's No. 1 Intermediate Court, according to state media.
Lei's case has riveted the general public since movies went viral of the portly, pop-eyed 55-year-old s-ex having an 18-year-old mistress hired by property developers, allegedly within an elaborate extortion scheme.
As more lurid details emerged, the scandal has exposed the shady intertwining of s-éx, money and power.
The s-éx é-xtortion schéme has ensnared at least 20 other party cadres, but Lei seemingly have been singled out - partly because he has been especially at risk of public dérision.
Lei's receding hairline, pop eyes, bushy eyebrows and wide jowls provided a caricature for public corruption and moral degradation widely detested by the public.
Beijing Institute of Technology law professor Xu Xin said the sentence was more severe than those in earlier corruption cases involving similar levels of bribes.
'Maybe because of the case's social impact, the court has chosen to be on the harsh end with its sentence,' he said.
Prosecutors also said Lei took two other bribes - among $10,000 and another of 100,000 yuan ($16,000) - in exchange for favors granted through his government position.
But it is Lei's s-éx scandal and the scheme behind it that have captivated person in the Chinese public, who are disgusted by what they see because the moral degradation of the in power.
In a different case, a district court on Friday afternoon sentenced Xiao Ye, the person convicted of masterminding the extortion scheme, to 10 years in prison.
The lady in the s-éx tape, Zhao Hongxia, was given a two-year sentence that was suspended for 2 yrs and could eventually be reduced.
The state People's Court Daily said Xiao plans to make an appeal but Zhao does not.
Naija Gist,Nigeria.
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