China Roundup September 2
- Source: Global Times
- [02:57 September 02 2009]
- Comments
18 years for corruption
Former vice chairman of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region was sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption and bribe taking, the Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.
Sun Yu, 52, who served as the regional government vice chairman from 1998 to 2007, swindled 3.2 million yuan ($468,521) from the regional government and accepted bribes worth more than 3 million yuan by helping others obtain raw materials and fulfill timber quotas, an Intermediate People's Court ruling of Nanning said Monday.
Most of the money was handed in after Sun was arrested.
Sun was kicked out of the Communist Party of China and removed from government posts in October 2008.
Illegal meds exposed
China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) yesterday exposed 15 more illegal websites selling or disseminating information about fake medicines, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The newly exposed websites include pfkf09.com, bqeqgy. com.cn/yyjs.asp, and 09tnb. com. They claimed to be offering medicines or links to medicines about skin diseases, respiration and diabetes.
The SFDA said it has turned in these cases to prosecutors for investigation and punishment.
This is part of a crackdown on illegal online medicine dealing launched by the SFDA at the beginning of 2008. Figures released on the SFDA website showed that they had exposed 171 illegal websites before today's announcement.
In 2009, the number of exposed websites has fallen by more than 50 percent over the same period of 2008, according to figures on the SFDA website.
Disclosure suit fails
A resident in South China' s boomtown Guangzhou has lost a lawsuit in which he demanded information disclosure from the local industry and commerce bureau, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xu Dajiang, who sued the bureau after it refused to provide information on the administrative penalties it imposed, said he would appeal after the Tianhe District Peoples Court in Guangzhou made the first instance ruling Monday.
Xu submitted written applications to seven government bodies, including the bureau, in May for information on the penalties in bazaars, supermarkets and department stores.
The bureau turned down Xu's request on May 18, saying such information could only be disclosed to those who were punished, and administrators were not supposed to take the initiative in such disclosures.
Kidnapper shot dead
A man who kidnapped a supermarket cashier in Guangdong Province was shot dead by police yesterday after he refused to surrender, police told the Xinhua News Agency.
The hostage was rescued and is safe.
The man kidnapped a female cashier with a kitchen knife in a supermarket in Baoan district, Shenzhen at about 9 am. He forced her to walk out of the supermarket, and dragged her to a nearby residential area, stabbed her head with the knife and finally pushed her to a guard kiosk at a garage, according to Baoan district public security bureau.
The police arrived at the scene and shot the man after he refused to release the cashier. The woman was out of danger after being rushed to hospital.
