BEIJING, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- A Chinese court Thursday sentenced a former senior police officer, accused of owning 22 houses, to 11 1/2 years in prison for bribe-taking, officials said.
Cai Bin, who became known as "Uncle House" on the Internet after a whistle-blower claimed he owned 22 houses, was sentenced by a court in Guangzhou, capital of south China's coastal Guangdong province near Hong Kong. He was convicted of accepting bribes totaling 2.75 million yuan (about 446,000 U.S. dollars) from 1993 to 2012, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
The court ordered the bribe amount and Cai's personal property be confiscated, the report said.
Cai, who was fired from his police post last year, became the latest official to be convicted and sentenced under the new government's crackdown on official corruption, which officials have publicly admitted is a serious problem threatening China's economic security.
Earlier this month, Yang Dacai, a work safety official in China seen "smiling" at the scene of a multiple-fatality accident and accused of holding large tracts of property, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for bribe-taking.
He became known as "Brother Watch" after he was photographed wearing expensive watches, one of them reportedly valued at more than $5,500.
