Former Shaanxi official indicted on bribery and embezzlement charges

Liu Kuanren, former vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy and a former senior political adviser in Shaanxi province, has been indicted on charges of suspected bribery and embezzlement, the country's top prosecuting authority announced on Wednesday.

The Supreme People's Procuratorate noted that it has appointed prosecutors from Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, to review and prosecute the case. It further stated that the prosecutors recently brought Liu to the Urumqi Intermediate People's Court.

During the review and prosecution period, the prosecutors informed Liu of his litigation rights, interrogated him, and also listened to his lawyer's opinions in accordance with the law, the SPP said.

According to the indictment, the prosecutors said that Liu should be held criminally liable for bribery and embezzlement because he was found to have accepted a large sum of money in exchange for taking advantage of his positions to seek profits for others, as well as used his position as the head of the Shaanxi provincial department of culture to embezzle and defraud public funds in an especially large amount.

Public information shows that Liu, 62, a native of Shaanxi, started working in July 1987 and joined the China Association for Promoting Democracy in October 1998. From November 1991 to July 2000, he taught at the Xi'an Conservatory of Music before being appointed as the deputy head of the provincial department of culture. In 2013, Liu became head of the Shaanxi provincial department of culture.

He began serving as the vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shaanxi Provincial Committee in 2018 and became the vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the China Association for Promoting Democracy in 2022.

In May 2025, he was placed under investigation for suspected serious duty-related violations. In November that year, he was removed from public office.