Former Chinese legislator sentenced to death for corruption

BEIJING: China today sentenced a 70-year-old former senior legislator to death for taking "a huge amount of bribes" and holding excessive assets with unidentified sources, becoming the latest official to be punished for graft under a campaign launched by President Xi Jingping.

Bai Enpei, former senior lawmaker with China's legislature, the National People's Congress, who had also served as the head of the provincial committees of the ruling Communist Party of China in Qinghai and Yunnan province, respectively, has been deprived of political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated.

Enpei has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Thousands of officials at different levels have been punished in the three year-long anti-corruption campaign initiated by President Xi.