An intermediate people's court in the region's Hinggan League sentenced Li, who once served as the head of the zone's Communist Party of China working committee, to death for corruption, with a suspended death sentence for bribery, life imprisonment for embezzlement and a five-year prison term for indulging organized crimes.
In combination, the court decided to give Li the death penalty.
It also stripped Li of his political rights and confiscated all of his personal assets. Additionally, the interest gained from his corruption and embezzlement was recovered and returned to the zone, and the interest obtained from his bribery was turned over to the State treasury.
From 2016 to 2018, Li took advantage of his position in the zone with others to misappropriate more than 1.44 billion yuan ($199 million) of State funds, of which, some 289 million yuan he had not yet obtained, according to the court.
From 2009 to 2014, when Li served as the chairman of Chunhua Water Group in Hohhot and the Party chief of the zone's CPC working committee, he offered assistance to others in tendering for project contracts, and accepted more than 577 million yuan in return, it said.
Between 2006 and 2016, Li, along with others, embezzled more than 1.05 billion yuan in public funds for personal use, of which 404 million yuan had not yet been returned when he was placed under investigation, it said.
Moreover, Li for a long time worked with Zhao Wenyuan, a convicted gang member, and allowed Zhao and his gangsters to conduct illegal activities in demolition projects, land acquisitions and job arrangements, it added.
"Li should receive capital punishment because he committed multiple crimes and the sum of his illegal gains was extremely large, and not only caused an extremely negative social impact, but also resulted in extremely major losses in the interest of the country and the people," the court said.
It revealed that some money had been used for gambling and transferred overseas by Li, and some of the public funds he embezzled had not been returned.
Li, 62, a native of Hebei province, started his career in 1982 and joined the Party in 1985. He served in several positions in Hohhot, including as head of the water authority and chairman of Chunhua Water Group.
He became Party chief of the zone's CPC working committee in 2011, and was placed under investigation in September 2018 for suspected serious violations of discipline and law.
In August 2019, he was expelled from the Party and removed from office.
Source: chinadaily.com.cn, Staff, September 29, 2022
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
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