A court in China on Tuesday sentenced a top official working with the country's leading telecom operator to death with two years' probation for accepting bribes of over USD 2 million. Li Hua,former chairman and general manager of the China Mobile Communications Corporation's Sichuan branch,was convicted on the first instance of taking bribes totalling 16.48 million yuan (USD 2.58 million),a spokesman with the Intermediate People's Court of Panzhihua City said. Taking advantage of his official position,Li accepted bribes from local companies and offered them interests,the court said. The official turned himself in and returned all bribes,which were confiscated and turned over to the state treasury,news agency Xinhua reported. Established in 2000,China Mobile is a state-owned telecom group with assets of 51.8 billion yuan. For ten consecutive years,it has been on the list of the world's top 500 companies compiled by Fortune Magazine and was ranked at 77 most recently,the company's official website said.
