Former political adviser found guilty of taking advantage of his posts

File photo of Ling Zhengce.

Ling Zhengce, a former senior political adviser of Shanxi province, was sentenced at a local court on Friday to 12 and a half years in prison for taking bribes.

Ling, former vice-chairman of the Shanxi Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was found guilty of taking advantage of his posts to offer help for others in project examinations and approval, business operations and promotions between 2001 and 2014, according to a verdict from Changzhou Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province.

Ling accepted bribes worth more than 16 million yuan ($2.3 million) either personally or through his son. He was fined 1.5 million yuan, and his illegal gains must be turned over to the State, the court ruled.

The court showed leniency as Ling admitted his crimes, gave account of cases that were not found by investigators and voluntarily turned over his profits, according to the judges.

Ling, 64, is a brother of Ling Jihua, former vice-chairman of the CPPCC. The latter was sentenced on July 4 to life in prison for taking bribes totaling 77.08 million yuan, illegally obtaining State secrets and abusing his power.

In another development on Friday, a senior official at the Ministry of Justice was placed under investigation for suspected graft, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the country's top anti-graft watchdog.

Lu Enguang, head of the ministry's political affairs department, was suspected of "serious discipline violations", using the usual euphemism for graft, according to statement from the commission's website. It gave no other details.

Lu has been the first vice-ministerial level official with the Ministry of Justice that was put under graft probe since a massive anti-corruption campaign was launched in the country in late 2012.

Lu, a native of Yanggu in Shandong province, worked as deputy head of the ministry's political affairs department since May 2009.

Lu assumed his current position in November last year, and had previously worked in the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and in the publishing industry.