Former Shaanxi official sentenced to life on bribery charges

Wei Minzhou, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi People's Congress, was sentenced to life imprisonment for taking bribes worth about 109.8 million yuan ($15.8 million) on Tuesday by the intermediate people's court in Chenzhou, Central China's Hunan province.

Wei, 62, accepted money or property from others and in return helped them in matters, including land bidding, project contracts and job promotions, while holding official positions in Northwest China's Shaanxi province from 1996 to 2017, the Chenzhou Intermediate People's Court said in a statement on Tuesday.

He was given a life sentence and all his property was confiscated. He pleaded guilty and did not appeal, according to the statement.

The court said since Wei colluded with others to wrongly confess to crimes before his own arrest and ordered them to destroy some of the evidence, he should be given heavier punishment.

But during the investigation, he confessed his crime, including some information about the bribery that wasn't known to the court, and he also exposed other people's crimes, so he was given a lighter punishment, it added.