Township officials sentenced for bribery, expelled from Party

A township official has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for bribery.

Li Peixia, the former Party chief of Shangfang township in Jiangxi's Wannian county, allegedly threatened to expose her superior, with whom she had an inappropriate relationship with, for engaging in corruption. She was sentenced at the Hengfeng County People's Court in Hengfeng county, Jiangxi province, on Thursday.

In a statement, the court said Li had profited from engineering projects within her jurisdiction, using her official position to benefit others in project contracting and fund disbursement, and unlawfully accepting bribes worth more than 1.65 million yuan ($230,508) between April 2019 and February this year.

The court said that Li had confessed to her crime and handed in all illegal gains, thus she was given a lenient sentence and fined 200,000 yuan.

Li, 41, gained national attention after her father posted a video online on July 25, alleging that she had a dispute with her superior, Wannian's Party chief Mao Qi. According to the video, Li had threatened to expose Mao's corruption to the provincial discipline inspection commission. However, three days after making the threat, she was detained by the county's discipline inspection commission for investigation.

Mao, 42, who was also found to have used his authority to facilitate an inappropriate relationship with Li, has since been expelled from the Communist Party of China and dismissed from his post, the local disciplinary authorities said on Sunday.

He was also found to have been untruthful during organizational inquiries, engaged in irregularities to benefit others in personnel matters and corrupt practices by using his position for personal gain in project contracting and fund disbursement, including unlawfully accepting significant amounts of money.