A FORMER top Chinese economic planning official was convicted of bribery yesterday and sentenced to life in prison after a former lover went public with a litany of accusations against him.

    The guilty verdict against Liu Tienan, once deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, is the latest step of the Party’s anti-corruption campaign.

    “Liu Tienan is sentenced to life in prison for bribery,” the Langfang Intermediate People’s Court said in a document.

    He was convicted of taking 35.58 million yuan (US$5.8 million) in bribes, the document added.

    It stated that the case was “based on clear facts and concrete and sufficient evidence.

    “The court holds that the defendant Liu Tienan as a government employee took advantage of his post to seek gains for others, illegally took cash or gifts from others by himself or via his son Liu Decheng. His activities amounted to committing the crime of bribery.”

    Bribes that Liu took from various businesspeople included cash and gifts for his son, among them a villa in Beijing and a Porsche, in exchange for project approvals and other favors, the court said during his trial in September.

    He had accepted his guilt, the court said then on a verified microblog account, quoting him tearfully expressing “deep repentance and remorse.”

    “Every round of interrogation, every sentence and even every contact with the investigators has felt like whips slashing my soul,” he said.

    “Faced with the facts, I have been asking myself every time I read the indictment, is this me? How did I end up being corrupted like this?”

    Liu fell after his mistress gave incriminating information to a prominent journalist who then posted online her accusations of shady business deals, fake academic credentials and death threats.(SD-Agencies)