Ex-senior officials found guilty of graft

In a separate development, Chen Xu, former chief prosecutor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate, was convicted on Thursday of taking bribes amounting to more than 70 million yuan and sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

In addition, he was deprived of his political rights for life and his ill-gotten gains were confiscated. The money will be handed over to the State treasury, according to Nanning city Intermediate People's Court.

The court said Chen made use of his position to help others handle cases, bid for projects and promote civil servants, then accepted huge bribes in return that were valued at 74.2 million yuan from 2003 to 2014.

From 2003 to 2014, he mainly served as deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and chief prosecutor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Procuratorate.

"During the court hearing, we notified the suspect of his legal rights and listened carefully to the lawyer's defense statements to protect his legitimate rights," a statement released by the court said.

In another development, Xing Yun, 66, former vice-chairman of the Inner Mongolia People's Congress, was under investigation for suspected severe violation of Party discipline and laws, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on Thursday.