Corruption-buster faces death penalty for bribery

[emad]

August 11, 2005

Corruption-buster faces death penalty for bribery
From Jane Macartney in Beijing



IS HUANG JINGAO a selfless hero who donned a bulletproof vest, surrounded himself with six bodyguards and survived 26 death threats in his battle against corruption in China?

Or is he yet another Communist Party official who succumbed to the lure of lucre and deserves to be facing charges of taking bribes and of keeping several mistresses? Was Mr Huang’s role as whistleblower merely a front to cover up his own corrupt activities? Or did his forthright tactics create powerful enemies who made it their mission to bring him low?

A Chinese court in southern Fujian province will soon sit in judgment on Mr Huang. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. The outspoken former Communist Party chief of Lianjiang county was formally charged this week with taking bribes of about £600,000 in cash, gems, jewellery, a gold brick and a laptop computer, state media said.

He is also said to have kept at least four mistresses and to have been fond of prostitutes.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1729930,00.html