Liaoning ex-official pleads guilty to graft
Wang Min, a former provincial-level official of Northeast China’s Liaoning province and a senior legislator, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse at a court in Henan province on Friday. He was charged with corruption, taking bribes and neglect of duty.
Prosecutors alleged that during his time as Party chief and governor of Jilin province, Party chief of Liaoning province and director of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress from 2004 to 2016, Wang used his position and power to assist others in matters including promotions and business in exchange for money and property worth more than 146 million yuan ($21.6 million).
In November 2009, Wang took advantage of his position as the Party chief of Jilin and embezzled public funds of 1 million yuan to pay for personal bills, according to the indictment.
While Party chief of Liaoning and director of the Standing Committee of the Liaoning provincial legislature, Wang violated rules and failed to properly supervise the provincial elections by not launching investigations into or handling tipoffs on election fraud including vote buying, the indictment said.
His negligence undermined the election system, resulting in “major losses in the national and public interest and had an especially vile social impact”, it added.
More than 60 people, including representatives of local legislators, political advisers, journalists and members of the public, were present at the open trial.
The verdict will be announced at a later date.
Wang was vice-chairman of the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress after leaving the post of Liaoning Party chief. In October last year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China for serious breaches of Party discipline.
In September 2016, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature, disqualified 45 deputies from the Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress for buying votes in a 2013 election.