President Xi Jinping's three-year old anti-corruption drive has netted a big fish Saturday after a former Chinese vice-governor was convicted of graft and sentenced to 17 years imprisonment, the Chinese court announced this weekend.

Ni Fake, former vice-governor of the eastern province of Anhui, was found guilty of  receiving more than $2 million in bribes while he was still in office, the municipal intermediate people's court said in a statement.

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In a statement, the court said Fake failed to account the more than $1 million additional  assets found in his possession.

Fake, known to be a connoisseur of jade and the arts, was found to have taken bribes from wealthy Chinese people who asked him for favors. Not only did Fake receive cash as bribes but he also accepted precious stones and expensive  paintings and calligraphy, the court said.

The conviction comes on the heels of President Xi Jinping's massive anti-corruption drive targeting communist party officials. The campaign, now on its third year, has witnessed the imprisonment of dozens of party officials found guilty of graft.

President Xi has warned party officials at the time he assumed the presidency and declared war on corruption that he will not spare anyone, not even a 'tiger,' from investigation and conviction as carried out by his anti-corruption drive.

Xi said massive corruption has been threatening the rule of the communist party and that he is determined to cleanse and rid the party of economic criminals.

The President's anti-corruption campaign has no intention of letting up with party authorities even stepping up the drive, vowing to punish those found guilty and the reason for the party's alienation from the people.

In another development, a senior military official being probed for corruption has been ousted from the Chinese parliament, the state-run news agency, Xinhua, said in its report on Saturday.

The National People's Congress said that with the ouster of Zheng as a parliament member, he was stripped of immunity and can now be prosecuted.

Liu Zheng, formerly the head of the powerful General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), has been accused of  corruption while in office.

TagsNi Fake, graft and corruption, big fish