Former Hunan political advisor handed life sentence for bribery

NANNING -- Yi Pengfei, a former senior political advisor from Central China's Hunan province, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for taking bribes and abuse of power.

Yi, former vice-chairman of the provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was also deprived of political rights for life, and all of his personal property will be confiscated, according to the verdict handed by a court in Liuzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

All Yi's illegal gains will be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, the court ruled.

The court found that between 2003 and 2023, Yi took advantage of his various former positions in Hunan to offer help to others in terms of project contracting, business operation and personnel promotion, and accepted money and property worth more than 81.4 million yuan ($11.5 million) in return.

Given that Yi confessed his crime, reported part of his crimes that supervisory organs had not yet resolved, showed remorse, and actively returned his illicit gains, he was given a lenient punishment, according to the court.