Former energy official found guilty of graft

Wei Pengyuan, former deputy director of the National Energy Administration's coal department, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Monday for taking bribes worth 212 million yuan ($31.6 million) and holding a huge amount of assets from unidentified sources.

He was stripped of any illegally acquired gains by Baoding City Intermediate People's Court in Hebei province, which also deprived him of his political rights for life and confiscated all his personal belongings.

Wei has no chance of parole, according to the court, due to the amount of money involved and the negative social affect of his actions. Under Chinese law, a suspended death sentence is typically commuted to a life sentence if the convict is involved in no further crimes during the two-year reprieve period.

Wei was found to have abused his power for the benefit of himself, accepting huge bribes related to coal project reviews, expert examinations, project bidding processes and equipment sales between 2000 and 2014.

Over the course of 14 years, he was a senior official in the National Development and Reform Commission's coal department and later its coal and oil department, as well as being deputy director of the National Energy Administration's coal department.

He received a death sentence with reprieve rather than a harsher punishment because he "confessed his crimes and expressed his regret during a court hearing, and the illicit assets were recovered in full", said a statement provided by the court.

In May 2014, Wei was placed under investigation over alleged graft. Judicial officers found more than 200 million yuan in cash at his home, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

The money involved is the largest amount seized from an individual official since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Sixteen cash-counting machines were used to tally the ill-gotten gains, with four burning out in the process.

Since November 2012, when the new leadership was elected, anti-corruption has become a top priority, and President Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping campaign to target both high- and low-ranking officials.

To date, more than 140 senior officials have been investigated for alleged corruption, including Zhou Yongkang, former security chief, who was sentenced to life in prison in June 2015.