A court has found former Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai guilty of taking bribes and embezzling state funds totaling 25.44 million yuan ($4.1 million). A transcript of the verdict was published on Sunday on the official account of the judicial institution on the Chinese microblogging service Weibo. On Sunday, the intermediate court in the city of Jinan (the capital of Shandong Province) announced its ruling, under which Bo Xilai was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights, and confiscation of personal property. The court found that Bo Xilai, while serving as a public official, used his position to assist businessmen Tang Xiaolin and Xu Ming. In return, he directly received bribes from Tang Xiaolin totaling more than 1 million yuan. In addition, with Bo Xilai's consent, members of his family received funds from Xu Ming to purchase a house in Cannes, in southern France, worth more than €2.3 million. According to the verdict, the total amount of bribes received by Bo Xilai came to 20,447,376.11 yuan. The court also found Bo Xilai guilty of illegally appropriating 5 million yuan (more than $800,000) that should have gone into the budget of the city of Dalian, but were instead transferred, with Bo Xilai's consent, to the account of his wife, Gu Kailai. At the same time, the court found unproven the allegation that Bo Xilai had taken bribes totaling 1.34 million yuan, which, according to the prosecution, his family received with his consent from Xu Ming to cover travel expenses. In addition to confiscating Bo Xilai's personal funds, property, and other assets frozen during the investigation, the court also ordered that efforts to confiscate the villa in France continue. http://rapsinews.ru/international_news/20130922/268902595.html Life imprisonment for a top official for taking bribes*** totaling $4.1 million.***
I can just imagine the roar of laughter coming from the fur vaults of officials in the Moscow suburbs as they read this news.
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