CHONGQING -- Li Zaiyong, a former senior political advisor in southwest China's Guizhou Province, stood trial on Thursday at a court in Chongqing Municipality, facing charges of graft, including accepting bribes worth over 432 million yuan (about 60.8 million U.S. dollars).
Formerly the vice chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Li was indicted for bribery and abuse of power.
Between 1998 and 2023, Li took undue advantage of his various positions, including those as a senior Party official or a government official in multiple localities of Guizhou and as the province's vice governor, to provide help for others in matters concerning project contracting, land requisition, and project planning and approval, and accepted money and gifts worth over 432 million yuan in return, according to prosecutors.
Li also deliberately initiated certain tourism development projects, disregarding explicit objections from others, fully cognizant that these projects would breach ecological red lines and lead to unavoidable damage to local farmlands, forests and water sources, resulting in significant financial and ecological losses, said the prosecutors.
During the trial, the prosecutors, the defendant and his lawyers cross-examined the evidence and gave their respective accounts.
Li pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his final statement.
The court said Li's sentence will be announced in due course.