Former senior NPC official gets 14 years in prison for bribery

Meng Wei, a former senior official with China's top legislature, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined 2 million yuan ($285,700) for bribery, according to a ruling made by the Xuzhou Intermediate People's Court in East China's Jiangsu province on Wednesday.

Meng's illicit gains and related interests have been seized and turned over to the State treasury, the court ruling said.

Meng served as deputy director of the Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee under the National People's Congress, the country's top legislative body.

From 2003 to 2017, the defendant made use of his work posts, including president of the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, as well as chief engineer of a major program for water pollution control and treatment, and provided aid for others in the company's operations, research projects and environmental engineering. In return, he received bribes of more than 20.46 million yuan, the court said.

Meng's behavior constituted the crime of bribery and the amount of the bribes he accepted was "extremely large", the court said in the ruling. "But given that he pleaded guilty to the charge and all of the illicit gains have been seized, we gave him a lenient punishment," it added.

Meng, 63, a native of Qingdao, East China's Shandong province, was placed under investigation for serious violations of disciplines and laws in November 2017. A year later, he was charged with the crime of bribery by prosecutors in Xuzhou. On June 28, 2019, he stood trial and confessed to the crime in the Intermediate People's Court.