Former senior political adviser Qi Zhala given life sentence for bribery

Qi Zhala, a former senior political adviser and former chairman of the government of the Xizang autonomous region, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday by a court in Chongqing for accepting bribes worth over 158 million yuan ($23.35 million).

Qi was also deprived of political rights for life, with all his personal assets confiscated, according to the ruling announced by the Chongqing No 1 Intermediate People's Court.

Additionally, his illicit gains and related interests were ordered to be turned over to the State treasury, the ruling said.

The court found that Qi, from 1999 to 2025, used his work positions in the Xizang autonomous region and Yunnan province to seek benefits for individuals and departments in various matters, such as real estate development, project contracting, administrative approval and personnel promotion, and accepted bribes of more than 158 million yuan in return.

Qi's behavior constitutes the crime of bribery, and he should be severely punished due to the "particularly large" amount of the bribes he took and the "extremely huge" losses he caused to the country and the people, the court said.

Given that Qi attempted but did not succeed in some instances of bribery, voluntarily disclosed most of the bribery facts that the investigators had not yet discovered, reported significant and truthful criminal activities of others, and actively returned the illicit gains, the court added that it provided him with leniency in sentencing.

Public records show that the 67-year-old ethnic Tibetan began his career in December 1979 and joined the Communist Party of China in May 1982. He worked in Yunnan and Xizang for decades. Between 2017 and 2021, he served as chairman of the Xizang autonomous regional government.

From October 2021 to March 2023, he was a senior official of the Ethnic Affairs Committee of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature. Then he became a member of the Standing Committee of the 14th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the country's top political advisory body, as well as deputy head of the CPPCC National Committee's division on agricultural and rural areas.

In January 2025, he was placed under investigation. Six months later, he was expelled from the Party and removed from public office. At the end of last year, he was prosecuted for suspected bribery, and the court publicly heard his case in March.