Ex-official pleads guilty to graft; another jailed, 1 charged

Ai Wenli, a former senior political adviser, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Suzhou Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province to charges of taking bribes of more than 64 million yuan ($9.3 million).

The Suzhou people's procuratorate charged that Ai, 63, former vice-chairman of the Hebei Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, accepted cash and property from others directly or indirectly totaling 64.7 million yuan from 2006 to 2014, the court said in a statement.

Between 2005 and 2013, he used his positions to benefit others in matters including enterprise restructuring, project development and work arrangements, the statement said.

During the period, he served as the mayor and Party chief of Chengde, Hebei province; mayor of Shijiazhuang, Hebei; and head of the publicity department of the Hebei Committee of the Communist Party of China.

On June 25, Ai surrendered himself to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the State Supervisory Commission under the pressure of the country's anti-corruption campaign.

Separately, Luan Kejun, former mayor of Lanzhou, Gansu province, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined 1 million yuan on Thursday for taking bribes of more than 10 million yuan. The sentence was handed down by the Baiyin Intermediate People's Court in Gansu.

Between 2002 and 2017, he gained benefits for others by receiving bribes when he worked as mayor of Zhangye, Qingyang and Lanzhou in Gansu province.

Another official, Yan Chunfeng, former deputy Party secretary of Guang'an, Sichuan province, was charged with taking bribes on Thursday by the Deyang people's procuratorate in Sichuan province.

From 2001 to 2018, he accepted bribes and used his position to help others profit, prosecutors said.

He worked as head of the Urban Planning Bureau in Yibin, Sichuan, and as deputy Party secretary in Guang'an, Sichuan, the indictment said.