Hunan's ex-legislator pleads guilty to bribery charges

Xiang Lili, a former senior legislator of Hunan province, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes of 66.67 million yuan ($9.5 million) in the first trial on Thursday.

Xiang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of Hunan Provincial People's Congress, went on trial at the Liuzhou Intermediate People's Court of Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Thursday.

He was charged by the Liuzhou People's Procuratorate for making use of his job positions to help others and illegally accepting property in return, totaling more than 66.67 million yuan from 2003 to 2019.

Between 2001 and 2018, his job positions included deputy mayor of Changsha, Hunan province, mayor and Party chief of Chenzhou of Hunan, and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of Hunan Provincial People's Congress.

Xiang illegally provided help to others in land development, project promotion, enterprise reform and project contracting, according to the procuratorate.

The sentence will be announced later, the court said.