Ex-official pleads guilty to taking bribes, election meddling

A former provincial-level official of Northeast China's Liaoning province pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and damaging an election at the Beijing No 3 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday.

Liu Qiang, former vice-governor of Liaoning, was accused of accepting more than 10.63 million yuan ($1.5 million) in bribes after using his positions, including general manager of PetroChina Co Limited Fushun Branch in Liaoning and mayor of Fushun city in the province, to provide benefits to individuals and enterprises, between 2000 and 2017, the capital's prosecutors said during the trial.

To reach the position of the provincial vice-governor, Liu interfered with the election either by offering bribery in cash and property or by using his influence to ask other officials to take votes between 2011 and January 2013, the prosecutors from Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate No 3 Branch added.

The ruling will be announced at a later date.

The election scandal in the province was exposed in September 2016. A total of 45 deputies from the province to the National People's Congress and another 523 deputies to the provincial congress were involved in vote buying and bribery during the 2013 election.

The NPC Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, later disqualified the 45 deputies. The 523 provincial congress deputies resigned or were also disqualified.