Former Beijing mayor gets suspended death sentence

BEIJING (Reuters) - A former vice mayor of Beijing has been given a suspended death sentence for taking millions of yuan in bribes, state media said on Sunday.

Liu Zhihua had been in charge of building venues for the Chinese capital's 2008 Olympics, as well as the $40 billion upgrade of the city's infrastructure for the Games. He was sacked in June 2006, accused of corruption and bad morals.

The official Xinhua news agency said Liu, 59, took 6.97 million yuan ($1.02 million) in bribes, citing the judgment of a court in the neighboring province of Hebei.

"The court said the bribes were pocketed by Liu and his mistress Wang Jianrui. Liu abused his power to get contract projects, loans and offer promotions for others in exchange for profits," the report said.

A suspended death penalty in China is normally commuted to life imprisonment on condition of good behavior.

Sources previously told Reuters that the national Communist Party chief and Chinese president, Hu Jintao, oversaw Liu's removal.

Hu, keen to enforce loyalty and craft an image as a clean leader, also oversaw the September 2006 sacking of Chen Liangyu, the Communist Party boss of China's commercial epicenter, Shanghai, for channeling pension funds into illegal investments and helping enrich crony companies and relatives.

China's Communist Party has called official corruption a threat to its continuing rule, but the problem remains rampant and is a major source of public resentment in a country with no meaningful checks to power.

($1=6.834 Yuan)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)