Sex-tape official denies bribery charges in court
By Xu Chi |
June 20, 2013, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A FORMER Party official embroiled in a sex video scandal that led to his downfall denied bribery charges as he went on trial yesterday in Chongqing.
Lei Zhengfu, ex-Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei District, was accused of accepting more than 3.16 million yuan (US$515,363) in bribes during his trial at Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
Lei was accused of taking the bribes between 2007 and 2012 when he was the district's director. His case came to light after a video clip showing him having sex with a young woman was posted online in November.
He was charged with pocketing 3 million yuan from one bribe linked to the sex video.
Lei was removed from his post after the video was posted. He was the first of 21 government and state-owned company executives who were punished for their involvement in the scandal that exposed the intertwining of sex, money and politics and the shady ties between real estate developers and local officials.
Lei appeared calm in court as the charges were read out by prosecutors. Lei denied taking 3 million yuan in one bribe, according to the Legal Evening newspaper.
He also revealed details involving the sex video scandal to the court. Lei claimed the young woman in the video, Zhao Hongxia, asked him to marry her after she had secretly videotaped their intimate moments as early as 2008.
Zhao was later accused of belonging to an extortion ring allegedly led by Xiao Ye.
Lei told the court he could not marry the woman for personal reasons and complained about the incident to Xiao, her boss.
Xiao and Lei became friends after Xiao gave him the disks of the sex videos, which, Lei testified, he smashed to pieces when he received them.
As Xiao developed close ties with Lei, the alleged gang boss sought a loan of 3 million yuan from Lei.
Lei told the court he did not embezzle state assets but asked construction contractor Ming Yongzhi to give Xiao the money. Xiao returned only 1 million yuan to the contractor, Lei testified.
Xiao, Zhao and four others face extortion charges at a court in Chongqing's Yubei District today. The trial will not be open to the public for personal privacy reasons, China Central Television reported.
Xiao's apparent modus-operandi was to involve young women to lure government officials and company executives into having sex with them and secretly videotaping the sessions.
Real estate developers then used the tapes to blackmail the officials and win contracts.
Police said the ring had extorted 5 million yuan from two government officials - Lei was one while the identity of the other had not been disclosed.
Of the 21 men involved in the sex scandal, 15 are government officials and the others are top executives in state-owned enterprises.
Lei Zhengfu, ex-Party chief of Chongqing's Beibei District, was accused of accepting more than 3.16 million yuan (US$515,363) in bribes during his trial at Chongqing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
Lei was accused of taking the bribes between 2007 and 2012 when he was the district's director. His case came to light after a video clip showing him having sex with a young woman was posted online in November.
He was charged with pocketing 3 million yuan from one bribe linked to the sex video.
Lei was removed from his post after the video was posted. He was the first of 21 government and state-owned company executives who were punished for their involvement in the scandal that exposed the intertwining of sex, money and politics and the shady ties between real estate developers and local officials.
Lei appeared calm in court as the charges were read out by prosecutors. Lei denied taking 3 million yuan in one bribe, according to the Legal Evening newspaper.
He also revealed details involving the sex video scandal to the court. Lei claimed the young woman in the video, Zhao Hongxia, asked him to marry her after she had secretly videotaped their intimate moments as early as 2008.
Zhao was later accused of belonging to an extortion ring allegedly led by Xiao Ye.
Lei told the court he could not marry the woman for personal reasons and complained about the incident to Xiao, her boss.
Xiao and Lei became friends after Xiao gave him the disks of the sex videos, which, Lei testified, he smashed to pieces when he received them.
As Xiao developed close ties with Lei, the alleged gang boss sought a loan of 3 million yuan from Lei.
Lei told the court he did not embezzle state assets but asked construction contractor Ming Yongzhi to give Xiao the money. Xiao returned only 1 million yuan to the contractor, Lei testified.
Xiao, Zhao and four others face extortion charges at a court in Chongqing's Yubei District today. The trial will not be open to the public for personal privacy reasons, China Central Television reported.
Xiao's apparent modus-operandi was to involve young women to lure government officials and company executives into having sex with them and secretly videotaping the sessions.
Real estate developers then used the tapes to blackmail the officials and win contracts.
Police said the ring had extorted 5 million yuan from two government officials - Lei was one while the identity of the other had not been disclosed.
Of the 21 men involved in the sex scandal, 15 are government officials and the others are top executives in state-owned enterprises.
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