Disgraced Chinese official weeps as he tells court he took bribes of more than 13 million yuan
A disgraced Chinese official wept in court today after confessing to accepting bribes totalling more than 13 million yuan (about HK$16.4 million) over an eight-year period.
Liao Shaohua, the former Communist Party chief of Zunyi City in Guizhou province, admitted taking the bribes to help various companies between 2004 and 2012 at Xian Intermediate People’s Court.
“I turned out this way because I couldn’t exercise self-restraint,” he told the court.
The hearing, which was reported on the court’s official weibo account, was adjourned at 1pm, and sentencing will take place at a later date.
Liao, a Sichuan native, had also admitted taking advantage of his position to seek profits for private parties and costing the government huge economic losses.
Prosecutors said Liao, 54, had intervened in arrangements for the leasing of land for real estate development between July 2008 and June 2009.
He had refused to listen to the local government’s advice and had caused it economic losses of more than 3 million yuan, the court said.
Liao, who spent nearly two decades in various posts within China’s state-owned railway corporation, joined the Communist Party in 1984.
He served as president of the Guizhou Youth Federation in 1998 and was promoted to vice-chairman of the Guizhou Planning Commission.
In 2001 he was appointed mayor of Liupanshui, and also deputy party secretary, where he remained until 2005, when he was appointed party secretary of Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
During his time in office in Qiandongnan, he oversaw a tough local anti-corruption campaign and jailed more than a dozen officials, Xinjing Daily reported earlier.
He then moved on to become party secretary of Zunyi in 2012.
In late 2013, Liao was removed from his position after being investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on suspicion of corruption.
