Former Shandong official accused of bribery

Zhang Xinqi, former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress, was accused of taking 155 million yuan ($23 million) in bribes by the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province on Thursday.

Zhang pleaded guilty and confessed to his crimes.

Prosecutors from the Nanjing People's Procuratorate said from 2001 to 2019, Zhang profited from his positions, including Party chief and mayor of Shandong's Weifang city, mayor of Shandong's Qingdao city and deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress, to assist enterprises and individuals in business operation, project development, engineering project contraction, planning approval and position arrangement.

From 2006 to 2021, Zhang accepted property from enterprises and individuals totaling 155 million yuan directly or through others. Therefore, the procuratorial organ requested Zhang be held criminally responsible for taking bribes, prosecutors said.

Zhang made a final statement and pleaded his guilt in court. The court said the verdict will be handed down at a later date.

Zhang, 66 and a native of Shandong, started work in 1974 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1977. He became mayor of Weifang in 2003, the mayor of Qingdao in 2012 and became deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress in 2017.

Zhang was put under investigation by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission in February 2021.

He was expelled from the Party and arrested in August 2021. Then his case was transferred to the Nanjing People's Procuratorate for prosecution, which filed a lawsuit against him in November.