Liu Tienan sentenced to life in prison
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Xinhua, December 10, 2014
|
|
|
A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced Liu Tienan, a former senior economic planning official, to life in prison. |
A Chinese court sentenced former senior economic planning official Liu Tienan to life imprisonment on Wednesday.
The former deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, and former head of the National Energy Administration was convicted of bribery by the Langfang Intermediate People's Court in north China's Hebei Province.
Liu has been stripped of his political rights for life and all personal property and wealth will be confiscated.
The court ruled that Liu had accepted bribes of 35.58 million yuan (5.8 million U.S. dollars) from 2002 to 2012, personally or through his son Liu Decheng.
He was found guilty of abuse of power by securing profits for four companies -- including Nanshan Group, a chemical firm based in east China's Shandong Province, Zhongjin Petrochemical Co. Ltd. based in east China's Zhejiang Province, GAC Group in south China's Guangdong Province and Zhejiang Hengyi Group Co. Ltd. -- as well as several individuals.
The court confirmed that all the dirty money amassed by Liu had been returned to the state.
Liu's trial closed in September but it took until Wednesday for the court to deliver its verdict.
The court said the mitigating circumstances included Liu's honesty about most of his crimes and showed remorse.
When asked for his plea, Liu said he had accepted his guilt and would accept any punishment.
"Faced with the facts, I have been asking myself every time I read the indictment, is this me? How did I end up like this?" said a tearful Liu, according to court scripts posted on one of the court's official social media accounts in September.
"Each morning, I wonder where I am and how I have ended up in this state," said Liu, adding that he had also been a bad influence on his son.
Liu's case was brought to light through allegations posted online. Luo Changping, then a deputy editor of the magazine Caijing, disclosed Liu's suspected misconduct on social media and the post drew nationwide attention.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)