Former senior legislator in Xizang stands trial for bribery, abuse of power

Ji Guogang, a former senior legislator of the Tibet autonomous region, pleaded guilty to accepting bribery amounting to about 44 million yuan ($6.11 million) and abuse of power in a trial held by the Intermediate People's Court of Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Thursday.

Ji, who served as the former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xizang Autonomous Regional People's Congress, also made a final statement in court. The verdict will be released at a later date.

According to prosecutors from the Chengdu People's Procuratorate, from 2002 to 2022, Ji utilized his positions, including deputy director of the Fixed Asset Investment Department of the National Development and Reform Commission and head of the Xizang Development and Reform Commission, to facilitate entities and individuals in obtaining project approvals and equity transfers.

In exchange, he, either directly or through his relatives, accepted money and property totaling more than 43.98 million yuan.

Additionally, from 2016 to 2021, while serving as the president and legal representative of the Xizang Development Investment Group, he engaged in favoritism, abuse of power and has caused particularly significant losses to State interests.

The prosecuting authority has proposed to hold Ji criminally liable for the crimes of bribery and abuse of power.

Ji, aged 61, began working in 1983 and joined the Communist Party of China one year later.

He previously worked at the National Development and Reform Commission and its predecessor institute from 1983 to 2012. He became the head of the Xizang Development and Reform Commission in January 2013 and concurrently served as the vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xizang Regional People's Congress from November 2016 until December 2022.

Ji was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation in November 2022 and was expelled from the Party and removed from his public posts in May 2023.

He was approved for arrest in June 2023 and prosecuted three months later.