Former Party chief of Yulin given life sentence for bribe-taking

Mo Hua, former Party chief of Yulin, a city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, was sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes of over 117 million yuan ($16.1 million), a regional court announced on Thursday.

Mo was also deprived of his political rights for life, with all his personal assets confiscated, according to the ruling made by the Hezhou Intermediate People's Court in Guangxi.

The court ordered that his illicit gains and any interest earned from them be turned over to the national treasury.

From 2011 to 2023, the defendant was found to have taken advantage of his positions, including deputy mayor of Laibin and deputy head of the Guangxi regional development and reform commission, to seek benefits for relevant individuals and departments in various matters such as project contracting and mining license application, the court said.

In return, he accepted bribes worth more than 117 million yuan, it noted, adding that some of the bribes were not obtained.

"Mo's behavior has constituted the crime of bribe-taking and should be harshly punished, as the amount of the bribes he took was extremely huge," it said.

Given that he truthfully confessed his crimes, voluntarily disclosed some acts of bribery that the investigating authorities were not yet aware of, and that some of the bribes were not actually obtained, he was given a lenient sentence, it added.

Public information shows that Mo, 60, a native of Guangxi, began his career in 1984 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1989. He had worked for the region's departments such as price administration and industrial and information bureau for decades.

In August 2021, he became the Party secretary of Yulin city. In March 2023, he was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation. In January 2024, he was expelled from the CPC and removed from public office. In April 2024, the court publicly heard the case.