Former Jiangxi legislator sentenced for corruption

A former senior legislator in Jiangxi province was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Tuesday over taking bribes and illegal possession of firearms.

Shi Wenqing, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, was also deprived of his political rights for life and had all his property confiscated.

The Ningbo Intermediate People's Court in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, publicly issued the verdict on Tuesday after a public hearing held in February this year, during which Shi pleaded guilty and made a final statement.

From 2003 to May 2020, Shi took advantage of his positions as deputy Party chief and deputy mayor of Harbin of Heilongjiang province, Party chief of Ganzhou of Jiangxi province and vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress to provide assistance to companies and individuals in terms of financing and loans, acquisition of State-owned land use rights, and project contracting.

In return he, directly or through relatives, received money and property from others amounting to about 195 million yuan ($28.73 million).

Shi also gave a pistol obtained from others to his relatives in 2004, which later was identified as a standard gun.

According to the court, Shi confessed to all of the crimes, including offenses that were not found by investigators. He also actively returned the illicit gains, which met the circumstances of statutory and discretionary leniency in punishment.

Shi, born in 1954, is a native of Faku county of Liaoning province. He began work in 1971 and joined the Party in 1974.

He became deputy Party chief of Harbin in 1999 and began serving as Party chief of Ganzhou in 2010. He became deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress in 2015.

A statement issued by the Communist Party of China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission in September 2020 said Shi had been placed under investigation.

Shi was expelled from the Party in March 2021. One month later, the Supreme People's Procuratorate approved his arrest.

In May 2021, SPP designated the People's Procuratorate of Ningbo, Zhejiang province to file the prosecution against Shi.

In February 2022, the Ningbo Intermediate People's Court of Zhejiang publicly heard Shi's case.