Former Hunan political advisor pleads guilty

Yi Pengfei, former senior political adviser of Hunan province, pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and abuse of power on Thursday when standing at trial in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

According to prosecutors in Liuzhou, Guangxi, Yi, former vice-chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, took advantage of his various posts in Hunan, including mayor of Huaihua and Loudi, to offer assistance for others in project contracting, business operation and fund application from 2003 to 2022.

In return, Yi accepted more than 81.4 million yuan ($11.4 million) on his own or through others between 2005 and 2023.

While serving as the Party chief of Chenzhou, a city in Hunan, from April 2019 to October 2020, he, in the process of investment promotion, knowingly violated the country's regulations regarding land-transferring fees by granting unauthorized preferential policies requested by some companies. Despite being aware of this, he still decided to refund the money, resulting in a loss of more than 448 million yuan in public assets.

With evidence, the prosecutors said that Yi should be held criminally responsible for the crimes of bribery and abuse of power.

Yi and his lawyer also expressed their opinions during the trial, and Yi confessed to the crimes.

The Liuzhou Intermediate People's Court said that it would announce a ruling at a later date.

Yi, 61, a native of Hunan, was placed under probe for suspected severe violations of the Communist Party of China discipline and the law in February.

In July, he was expelled from the Party and dismissed from his public office.

In October, he was indicted on charges of bribery and abuse of power.