Former Shandon political advisor imprisoned for accepting bribes

Sun Shutao, a former senior political advisor of Shandong province, was given life imprisonment for accepting bribes of more than 129 million yuan ($17.8 million), a court in Shanxi province said on Wednesday.

Sun was also deprived of political rights for life with the confiscation of all his personal assets, according to the ruling announced by the Datong Intermediate People's Court.

In addition, the court ordered that the illicit gains that Sun made and the interest earned from them be turned over to the national treasury.

From 2001 to 2023, Sun was found to have taken advantage of his various work posts in Shandong, including mayor of Weihai, mayor of Jinan and vice chairman of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, to seek profits for departments and individuals in matters such as project contracting, business operation and job adjustment, and then took bribes worth over 129 million yuan in return, the court said.

"Sun's behavior has constituted the crime of bribery, and the sum of bribes he took was extremely large, causing extremely serious losses to the country and the people," the court said.

"Given that many of his bribery attempts were unsuccessful and he voluntarily gave lots of bribes that the inspectors had not known, with a positive attitude to confess the crime and recover his illicit gains, we gave him leniency in his punishment," it added.

Sun, 59, a native of Shandong, joined the Communist Party of China in 1985 and started his career in 1987. He had worked in Shandong for decades and was probed for suspected severe violations of party disciplines and national laws in March 2023.

He was indicted on charges of taking bribes in February, and two months later, the Shanxi court publicly heard the case.