BEIJING, China (AP) – A former Cabinet minister was sentenced yesterday to life in prison in China’s highest-level corruption case since a deputy chairman of parliament was executed in 2001.

Tian Fengshan, former minister of land and resources, was convicted of taking 4.4 million yuan (US$545,000; euro455,000) in bribes from 1995-2003 while serving as a provincial governor and then a minister, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

“The defendant Tian Fengshan took advantage of his position to profit while a servant of the nation,” the Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court said in a ruling quoted by Xinhua.

Tian escaped a more severe penalty because he confessed and “repented his crimes,” according to Xinhua.

Tens of thousands of officials have been punished and some executed in recent years in a long-running crackdown on corruption and other abuses that threaten to erode public acceptance of communist rule.

Despite widespread publicity for the penalties, it isn’t clear whether Beijing has succeeded in reining in abuses in a system where heavy government involvement in many areas of the economy and society creates opportunities for extortion and embezzlement.