What’s new: Li Jinzhu, a former senior legislator of Northwest China’s Shaanxi province and a coal industry veteran, pleaded guilty to charges of accepting bribes totaling more than 430 million yuan ($59.3 million).
Prosecutors in Guangzhou accused Li, a former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial People’s Congress, of accepting bribes between 2004 and 2023 in exchange for favors in business operations and official promotion.
Li pleaded guilty in court. Sentencing will be at a later date, the court said.
Background: Li was placed under investigation by the country’s top graft buster in May 2023. The 69-year-old was the first senior official from the major coal-producing province to be investigated for alleged graft since the 20th national party congress in late 2022.
He spent decades in the coal industry and the government system of coal-rich Shaanxi after graduating in 1982 from Fuxin Mining Institute, predecessor of Liaoning Technical University. He subsequently worked for the now-defunct coal industry ministry until 1993, and later held senior positions at the China Coal Research Institute, including party chief, until 2001.
In 2007, he was promoted to mayor of Yulin, after which he climbed the ranks to become vice governor of Shaanxi province in 2011 and deputy head of the legislature in 2015.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
