Former Ningxia political advisor sentenced to death for bribery

Qi Tongsheng, a former senior political advisor from the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Tuesday by the Intermediate People's Court of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, for the crime of accepting bribes. He was also deprived of his political rights for life and had all of his personal property confiscated.

Qi was a former secretary of the leading Party members' group of the Ningxia regional committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chairperson of the committee.

The court found that between 2004 and 2021, Qi abused his official position to provide assistance to others regarding mining permits, project approvals, and project contracting, illegally accepting property and money worth more than 111 million yuan ($15.75 million) combined.

The judgment noted that, given that part of his crimes weren't completed, he truthfully confessed his crimes after being apprehended, voluntarily returned ill-gotten gains, and that the majority of the involved illicit funds had been recovered, he was given a lighter punishment in accordance with the law.