What’s new: Peng Bo, a former vice director of the Communist Party’s anti-cult office and an ex-cyberspace official, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for taking more than 54.6 million yuan ($7.6 million) in bribes, a local court said.
Between 2006 and 2018, Peng took advantage of his official positions to aid others in a variety of ways, including helping them settle lawsuits, expand their internet businesses and deal with land transfer procedures, according to a statement from the Wuxi Intermediate People’s Court in East China’s Jiangsu province.
Peng, 65, did this while serving as deputy head of the Cyberspace Administration of China and deputy chief of the Office of the Central Leading Group on the Prevention and Handling of Cult-related Issues, among other positions, the court said Thursday.
The court, which also fined Peng 5 million yuan, said it gave him a lenient sentence because he confessed to his crimes and provided investigators with new information about his case.
The background: Peng pleaded guilty in December at a public trial in the Wuxi court. He was expelled from the party in August 2021 after the country’s top anti-graft watchdog began investigating him the preceding March.
A native of Central China’s Hunan province, Peng graduated from China’s prestigious Peking University with a journalism degree. He was a long-time editor in the state-owned media sphere.
Contact reporter Kelly Wang (jingzhewang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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