Former adviser jailed for bribery

Xiao Yi, a former senior political adviser from Jiangxi province, was given a life sentence by a court in Zhejiang province on Tuesday for taking bribes of more than 125 million yuan ($17 million) and illegally providing aid to virtual currency companies.

Xiao, former vice-chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was sentenced to life for bribery, and was also given a six-year prison term for abuse of power, according to the ruling announced by Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court.

The court said that it decided to give Xiao the life sentence after combining the punishments. It also stripped Xiao of his political rights and ordered that all his personal property be confiscated.

In addition, his illicit gains, along with interest earned, have been turned over to the national treasury, it added.

From 2008 to 2021, Xiao used various work positions, including Party chief of Fuzhou, Jiangxi, and vice-chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, to seek benefits for individuals and departments in construction contracting, project development and job promotion, and accepting assets worth over 125 million yuan in return. He had not received some 57.82 million yuan of the promised bribes, the court said.

From 2017 to 2021, when he served as Party secretary of Fuzhou, he violated the country's new development concept and regulations by helping some enterprises engaged in the manufacturing and sales of virtual-currency production equipment and virtual-currency transaction activities with subsidies, funding support and guaranteed electricity, resulting in heavy public losses and a negative social impact, it added.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic regulator, intensified regulation of virtual currency mining in 2021 as part of the country's efforts to save energy and cut carbon emissions.

"Xiao should be severely punished, as the amount of his bribes was extremely large and his abuse of power was also extremely serious," the court said.

"Considering he confessed to the crimes and that he has not yet obtained some of his bribes, we've penalized him leniently," it added.

Xiao, 61, a native of Ganzhou, Jiangxi, started his career in September 1981 and joined the Communist Party of China in August 1984.