Related News
Former official in sex scandal loses appeal
Print Edition
A FORMER Party official, embroiled in a sex video scandal, had to be forcibly evicted from the court by attendants after he lost his composure during a hearing of his appeal at the Chongqing Higher People’s Court yesterday.
Lei Zhengfu, the former Party secretary of Beibei District in the southwest Chongqing City, lost his cool after his appeal against bribery conviction was rejected by the court, the People’s Daily website reported yesterday.
Lei was the first of the 21 local senior cadres who were caught in a honeytrap set up by a local businessman, Xiao Ye, who secretly videotaped the trysts to extort construction deals.
On June 28, Lei was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court for taking nearly 3.16 million yuan (US$516,344) in bribes between 2007 and 2012.
The court heard that Lei pocketed 3 million yuan in bribes in February 2008, as a fallout linked to the video. But he disputed it and appealed.
The Chongqing Higher People’s Court heard the appeal on September 6 and upheld the original verdict yesterday.
Lei told the court he did not realize he was being blackmailed when he asked businessman Ming Yongzhi to lend 3 million yuan to Xiao.
He also insisted it was just a “personal favor” between Xiao and Ming. But the Chongqing Higher People’s Court did not buy his arguments.
After the court announced the verdict, Lei refused to leave the premises, instead he kept addressing the court. He was then forcibly taken out by the police.
Lei’s family members who were in the courtroom were equally agitated and Lei had to ask them to calm down.
Evidences showed Lei was forced to raise money for Xiao because he was afraid of being exposed.
Since Lei had previously helped Ming’s company, he turned to Ming. Xiao used some of the money to pay off loans and others for personal expenses. The court, therefore, ruled it amounted to extortion.
Meanwhile, appeals for lighter sentence for Xiao and two other members of his extortion ring, Xu Sheqing and Yan Peng, were also rejected.
On June 28, Xiao was jailed for 10 years. Xu and Yan were sentenced to four years and three and a half years, respectively.
Xiao and Yan pleaded guilty, but Xu insisted he was innocent and claimed he exposed the sex videos, leading to an anti-corruption campaign, Beijing Times reported.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
