A former senior legislator in eastern China's Jiangsu province was given a suspended death sentence for taking bribes, abusing his power and illegally trading landuse rights, a court in the central province of Hubei announced Monday.

The Xiangyang Intermediate People's Court sentenced Liu Handong to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, along with deprivation of his political rights for life and confiscation of all his personal assets.

In China, a suspended death sentence is typically commuted to life in prison after two years if the inmate commits no further crimes. Life imprisonment can then be further reduced based on the inmate's behavior.

The court also sentenced Liu, 65, to five years in prison for abuse of power and four years for illegally trading land-use rights, along with a fine of 6 million yuan ($826,000).The court combined the sentences, resulting in the suspended death sentence. It also ordered that all of his illicit gains and related interests be turned over to the State treasury.

The court said Liu, from 1999 to 2023, took advantage of his various positions, including as head of the Jiangsu financial department and deputy head of the standing committee of the provincial people's congress, to seek benefits for organizations and individuals in areas such as land transfers, business operations and job adjustments. In return, he accepted bribes worth over 245 million yuan.

The court also found that Liu abused his power in transferring land-use rights and exempting land value-added tax, causing significant losses to public assets and State interests from 2001 to 2017 while he worked in Jiangpu county, Nanjing city, and the provincial financial department.

It said Liu, in collusion with others, violated land management regulations and illegally sold landuse rights in 2003, generating an illegal profit of 54.16 million yuan for others.

"Liu should be sentenced to death, as the circumstances of his offenses were extremely serious and the amount of his bribes was extremely huge, bringing great damage to public assets as well as the interests of the country and the people," the court said.

"Considering he confessed to the crimes, informed investigators of some bribery facts they were unaware of and voluntarily returned his illicit gains, we've leniently penalized him," it added.

Liu, a native of Anhui province, began his career in 1977 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1984. He worked in Jiangsu for decades. Before his investigation began in April, he was vice-chairman of the standing committee of the Jiangsu people's congress, the provincial legislative body.

He was indicted in August on suspicion of bribery, abuse of power and illegally trading land-use rights. His case was heard publicly in Xiangyang, Hubei, two months later.

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