Former Chinese official jailed for corruption

BEIJING - A former Chinese official was sentenced Friday to 11 years in jail for taking bribes.

Yan Shunjun, a former deputy environmental protection official, was deprived of political rights for two years and received a fine of 100,000 yuan. He was sentenced by the Shanghai No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court, Xinhua news agency reported.

The court heard that the 63-year-old official took bribes worth 1 million yuan between 2003 and 2008 from seven contractors.

Yan served as deputy head of the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau since 1997, and retired from the post in 2008.

Prosecutors told the court that Yan took bribes from contractors when he supervised environmental protection projects. The largest single bribe he took was 400,000 yuan from helping Shanghai Huajing Environmental Engineering Co. Ltd. secure two noise-reduction projects.