Shi Wenqing, the former deputy director of the Standing Committee of Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery and illegal possession of firearms, as well as being deprived of political rights of life and having all his personal assets confiscated, a court in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang Province, announced on Tuesday. 

According to the court, Shi took advantage of his position to provide illegal assistance to institutes and individuals who were involved in financing and project contracting as well as the acquisition of state-owned land, during his period of service in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and Central China's Jiangxi Province from 2003 to 2020.

In the years between 2003 and 2020, Shi took bribes worth 195 million yuan ($28.6 million) directly or through relatives, and he also gave a pistol obtained from others to one of his relatives for safekeeping in 2004, the court noted.

Moreover, Shi did not stop taking bribes until May 2020, six months after he was reported by three entrepreneurs in different places in 2019, even though he had retired by then.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in the statement expelling Shi from the Party in March 2021 that Shi did not stay true to the Party's ideals, and that he displayed "extremely inflated political ambition and very poor political integrity." He also issued groundless criticism of the Party's policies, and deceived the central government on major issues, the statement said.

Shi took advantage of his position as a civil servant to seek benefits and illegally accepted money and property from others, which constituted the crime of taking bribes, the court noted, adding that Shi also violated the rules for gun control.

The amount of bribes Shi took was huge and caused heavy losses to the interests of the country and the people, so the case has to be dealt with seriously, the court added. 

The court also took into account the fact that Shi confessed all the facts about his criminal behavior, including details previously unknown to the authorities, and also disgorged his ill-gotten gains.

Global Times