Former senior provincial legislator handed death sentence with reprieve for bribery

HAIKOU -- Peng Guofu, a former senior legislator in Central China's Hunan province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery on Tuesday, according to a court in Haikou of South China's Hainan province.

Peng, former vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress, was found to have accepted bribes exceeding 134 million yuan (about 18.6 million US dollars) from 2004 to 2023.

Peng was deprived of political rights for life. All of his personal property was confiscated, and all his illegal gains must be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, the court sentence read.

The court ruling stated that Peng abused his former positions in Hunan to assist others in matters, including project contracting, business operations, and the promotion of officials, in exchange for illegal gains.

The amount of bribes involved in Peng's case was particularly huge, the circumstances were especially serious, and the social impact was extremely bad, causing significant losses to the interests of the country and the people, according to the court.

However, a lenient sentence was granted because part of the bribes had not been actually obtained by Peng, and he had been cooperative in the investigation and in returning the illegal gains.