Wang Fuyu, a former top political adviser in Guizhou province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes totaling over 434 million yuan ($68.38 million), and he attested in court he would obey the court's sentence and refuse to appeal.

Tianjin First Intermediate People's Court passed down the sentence on Monday after a public trial of Wang, former chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, was convened last December.

The court also deprived Wang of political rights for life and confiscated all his personal property.

From 1995 to 2021, Wang took advantage of his positions, including as Party chief of the cities of Sanya and Haikou in Hainan province and head of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the CPPCC, to seek benefits for related companies and individuals in business operations, planning approvals and career advancement.

In return, he received money and property totaling 434 million yuan. As a property worth more than 4.8 million yuan had not yet been obtained, it was considered an attempted crime, the court said.

From 2019 to 2020, Wang also took advantage of his influence after he retired in 2018 to accept property from others, totaling 17.35 million yuan.

Wang's behaviors constitute the crime of taking bribes and using his influence to take bribes. The amount of his bribery is particularly large and the criminal offenses were serious, causing bad social impact and heavy losses to the interests of the country and the people, the court said.

Given that Wang voluntarily surrendered, truthfully confessed, actively returned the stolen goods and all of his illegal gains had been recovered by the investigators, the court gave him a reprieve for his death penalty.

The 69-year-old from Henan province joined the Communist Party of China in 1974 and joined the workforce in 1976. Wang became Guizhou's deputy Party chief in 2004 and served as chairman of the Guizhou Provincial CPPCC Committee from 2013 to 2018.

Wang was placed under investigation by the country's top disciplinary watchdogs last February and was arrested on suspicion of bribery in August.