China corruption: Nanjing mayor jailed for 15 years

Ji Jianye was accused of accepting vast sums of money and gifts in exchange for contracts

The former mayor of the Chinese city of Nanjing, Ji Jianye, has been jailed for 15 years for corruption.

The court in Yantai found Ji guilty of accepting 11.3m yuan ($1.9m; £1.2m) in bribes between 1999 and 2013, when he was dismissed.

As mayor he was nicknamed "Bulldozer" for his heavy promotion of construction and redevelopment in Nanjing.

Ji is the latest high profile official to be jailed under President Xi Jinping's corruption crackdown.

The court said in a statement that it had been "lenient in meting out punishment, as Ji admitted his guilt and showed repentance".

Ji assumed the powerful role of mayor of Nanjing in 2010. The city is the capital of Jiangsu province and home to about seven million people.

In January 2013 he was placed under investigation suspected of "severe violations of disciplines and laws". He was arrested and expelled from the ruling Communist Party last year.

The court heard he had received huge amounts of money and gifts from a range of influential people and companies - including construction firms - in exchange for favourable deals and contracts.

As has become common practice, Ji's case was heard in eastern Shandong, far from his home province and support base in Jiangsu.

Mr Xi launched his anti-corruption drive on coming into office in November 2012.

He warned that public anger over corruption threatened the survival of the Communist Party, and promised to pursue "tigers" - top-level officials - as well as "flies".

Last week, former security chief Zhou Yongkang - once one of China's most powerful men - was charged with bribery, abuse of power and disclosing state secrets.