Ex-Senior Official at Economic Planning Agency Sentenced Over Bribes

(Beijing) — A former senior official at China’s top economic planning body has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for taking bribes totaling 5.11 million yuan ($772,610).

Cao Changqing was found guilty of profiting from his job as the head of the National Development and Reform Commission’s (NRDC) price-setting bureau and of taking bribes between 2007 and 2014 from a state-owned construction company and several power firms, among others. A Beijing court handed down the sentence on Aug. 17.

Cao, 63 and a veteran of the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War, pleaded guilty to accepting some bribes, according to people who were at the trial.

He admitted he accepted “gifts, such as high-end cameras, lenses, furniture and other items given by friends,” which were equal in value to 1 million yuan, only a fraction of the illegal earnings that prosecutors accused him of taking, those people said.

He didn’t admit to accepting the other 4 million yuan in bribes from company entities or acting in their favor in any price-setting. He said he didn’t know anyone offering bribes from power companies.

Prosecutors said he had used his power to help eight companies, most of them hydroelectric and energy firms, to gain more revenue in the process of setting electricity prices from 2007 to 2014 and accepted bribes from these companies.

During the trial, Cao was said to have been emotionally agitated, breaking down into tears several times.

The price-quoting office of the NDRC determines prices for many monopolized commodities, such as water and electricity. It is considered one of the most powerful departments inside the NDRC. Cao was predominantly engaged in setting government-oriented prices for gasoline, medicine and electricity during the eight years he served as head of the department.

The powerful department can be a hotbed for graft. Three other officials in the price-setting department were put under investigation for alleged bribery in September, one month after authorities took Cao away for questioning at the Beijing International Airport.

Cao’s lawyer said setting prices in the electric-power industry is a complicated process. It involves cooperation from multiple government agencies, and it would have been impossible for Cao to adjust the price in the favor of a certain firm alone, the lawyer argued.

Cao plans to appeal and ask for a lighter sentence, according to his lawyer.

Contact reporter Pan Che (chepan@caixin.com)