Former senior provincial legislator sentenced to life for bribery

CHANGSHA - Wei Minzhou, a former senior legislator from northwest China's Shaanxi Province, was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for taking bribes.

Wei, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress, was also deprived of his political rights for life, and all his personal property was confiscated, according to the city court of Chenzhou in central China's Hunan Province.

The court found that from 1996 to 2017, Wei took advantage of various positions he held to help others in terms of mineral exploitation, land auctions, project contracting, financing, as well as job promotions and adjustments. Wei was convicted of accepting money and gifts worth 109.78 million yuan (15.8 million U.S. dollars), personally or through his family.

The court said Wei should be severely punished due to the fact he colluded with others and destroyed evidence of bribes before being charged.

However, Wei later confessed to his crimes, showed remorse, provided additional information about his and others' crimes, and returned all his illegal gains, which resulted in a more lenient sentence, the court said.

Wei accepted the verdict, according to the court.