AN owner of a real estate company in Shenzhen was sentenced to seven months in prison for involvement in bribing government officials, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday, citing the Futian District People’s Court.

    The former owner of the Gangfeng Group, He Jianhua, was convicted of bribing several government officials in 2006 and 2013. He asked for the rights to finish an unfinished project called Gangfeng Building in Luohu District.

    The building project was first launched in 1993, with a plan for 34 floors, but the construction stopped in 1995 with only five floors constructed. A new owner took over the construction and design of the building in 2002. The building was fully erected in 2004 but the exterior was left unfinished.

    The municipal government decided to finish 52 unfinished buildings around the city in 2004 and the Gangfeng Building was among the incomplete projects.

    Gangfeng Group, controlled by He at that time, took the chance to finish and renovate the building the same year. But the company transferred its shares to another company named Guorong Financial to help Gangfeng Group purchase the unfinished building.

    A dispute occurred between the two companies and Guorong Financial gave the project to Gangfeng Group to handle alone, keeping He in charge of the construction of the Gangfeng Building and even giving him 2 million yuan (US$314,600) to finish the project.

    The unfinished building had an illegally constructed portion that needed to be knocked down. He allegedly tried to use Guorong Financial’s money to bribe officials into overlooking the illegal construction.

    Guorong Financial said that it had never told He to offer bribes, but the court found the company liable for He’s crime.

    The Futian People’s Court also found He guilty of offering bribes to a judge with Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court when trying to solve a business dispute in 2006. Both the government official and the judge were dealt with by authorities. (Zhang Qian)