Wang Linqing File photo:CCTV

 The Beijing Municipal High People's Court on Monday announced a public verdict in the case against Wang Linqing, a former official at China's top court, rejecting his appeal and upholding the original verdict.

In May, Wang was sentenced to 14 years in prison and given a fine of 1 million yuan ($150,000) for taking bribes and illegally obtaining national secrets.

From 2011 to 2018, Wang took bribes worth 350,000 yuan from Zhao Faqi, the owner of an energy investment company in Yulin, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and litigant in a coalmining dispute. 

In the period between June and August 2018, Wang was asked by Zhao to photograph and copy classified documents about the coalmining dispute between Zhao's company and the Shaanxi local geological development authorities. Wang sent these documents to Zhao via WeChat and email. The national security authority revealed that five of the documents that Wang had illegally obtained contained confidential national secrets, the court said. 

Wang came to public attention in December 2018 through a high-profile incident in which he helped to fabricate a story about "mysteriously missing" court documents and claimed that he himself had been a victim of acts of retaliation orchestrated by his colleagues. 

The incident sparked debate on Chinese social media after Cui Yongyuan, a well-known former news anchor, posted about it on Sina Weibo, along with related pictures and videos sent by Wang and Zhao to Cui.

The ensuing investigation found that while serving as an assistant judge at the Supreme People's Court from 2008 to 2018, Wang took advantage of his position to provide illegal assistance to institutes and individuals for cases in which they were involved. Wang took bribes worth about 2.2 million yuan from two institutes and 11 lawyers during the period, according to the judgment in Wang's first trial. 

As an officer of the judiciary, Wang took bribes, seriously damaging judicial credibility, and illegally obtained national secrets, which had an adverse social impact, the court noted.

The Beijing Municipal High People's Court also pronounced on Monday the judgment on the appeals of Zhao and others who offered bribes. All the appeals were rejected and their original sentences were upheld.