Ex-railway official sentenced to death

Former senior railway official Zhang Shuguang is taken to the court in Beijing on Friday, Oct 17, 2014. [Photo via Sina Weibo]

Former senior railway official has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on corruption charges by a court in Beijing on Friday.

Zhang Shuguang, ex-director of the transport bureau under the then-ministry of railways - now China Railway Corp - has also been stripped of all political rights and all his personal property confiscated, said the Second Intermediate Court in Beijing.

Zhang first went on trial on Sept 10, 2013, for taking 47.55 million yuan ($7.76 million) in bribes.

Zhang, 56, from Jiangsu province, was also the ministry's former deputy chief engineer and the right-hand man of Liu Zhijun, the ex-railways minister, who was sentenced to death in early July with a two-year reprieve for accepting 64.6 million yuan in bribes and abuse of power.

Zhang was suspended from office in February 2011 shortly after Liu was investigated and charged with bribery in December 2012.

As one of the top officials developing China's high-speed train, a program praised for quick transportation and blamed for kickbacks, Zhang took a large sum of the money from private companies and awarded railway construction contracts to them in return.

Zhang's mistress is also on trial in Beijing, for helping to hide up to 1.98 million yuan of illicit money. The verdict in her case hasn't been announced yet.