Former top planning official jailed for life in China over graft
BEIJIN, Dec. 10 (NsNewsWire) – A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment the former deputy head of China’s top planning agency in a bribery scandal that exposed graft at the highest levels of China’s government.
The sentence, handed down by a court just outside of Beijing, capped the downfall of Liu Tienan, who was sacked as deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) last year, a position that carries minsterial-level status, reports Reuters.
Liu was the first ministerial-level official to face an investigation after Xi Jinping became Communist Party head in late 2012 and launched the most aggressive anti-graft campaign China has seen in decades.
Xi has pledged to take down high-ranking “tigers” and low-ranking “flies” in his fight against a pervasive problem he says could threaten the Chinese Communist Party’s rule.
Liu’s trial has offered a rare glimpse into the amount of power amassed by top officials, especially within the NDRC. The agency sets policy for strategic industries, approves big investments, mergers and acquisitions, and has the authority to influence prices for everything from liquor to gasoline.
The presiding judge in the court of Langfang city in Hebei province said Liu had “violated the integrity of the duties of the nation’s workers”.
Liu, 60, pleaded guilty to extensive bribery involving several companies including a Toyota Motor Corp. joint venture in September.
Prosecutors had charged Liu and his son, Liu Decheng, with taking 35.6 million yuan ($5.74 million) in bribes in dealings with various companies, the court said in September.
State television showed Liu breaking down into tears as he apologized for his crimes in his statement to the court.
Under Chinese law, those convicted of corruption face the death sentence. But the public prosecutor said in an opinion in September that Liu had been cooperative in handing over evidence to investigators so the court would be lenient.
Liu, who was also head of the National Energy Administration, was sacked after a deputy editor-in-chief of the investigative magazine Caijing posted accusations on his microblog that Liu was involved in illegal activities.
At least two other officials at the NDRC have also been swept up in the probe into the agency including Cao Changqing, who recently retired as head of the pricing division at the NDRC, and Zhang Dongsheng, who was the head of the employment and income distribution division at the agency.
The government has also launched a series of probes into the energy sector that has brought down senior officials in the National Energy Administration and state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation.
($1 = 6.1988 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)