Top China official confesses to graft

China’s former state assets chief Jiang Jiemin — one of the highest-profile casualties of the country’s anti-graft drive and an ally of ex-security chief Zhou Yongkang — confessed to corruption at his trial Monday.

Jiang admitted his offences at the Hanjiang Intermediate People’s Court in the central province of Hubei, the court said on its Sina Weibo microblog.

He is accused of bribery and abuse of power, the court said, adding that Jiang allegedly possessed “a huge amount of assets of unknown origin”.

State broadcaster CCTV showed Jiang, with deep bags under his eyes, admitting his guilt.

“The facts of my crime are clear, the evidence is true and undeniable, and the Hanjiang court’s lawsuit is objective,” Jiang said according to the court statement, which added that he appealed for leniency.

“I confess to the facts of the crime without concealing anything. I admit my guilt and repent for my crimes,” he said, adding that he had “damaged the image of the Party within the hearts of the people”.

“For these errors, I am deeply, deeply repentant.”

The hearing was completed on Monday afternoon and the judges “will select a date to announce the decision after deliberating in accordance with the law”, the court said.

Photos posted by the court showed a stern-faced Jiang standing in the courtroom, clad in a dark blue jacket and with police officers towering over him on either side.

Chinese courts are closely controlled by the Communist Party, as is reporting on sensitive trials, and a guilty verdict is effectively a certainty.

Jiang worked for decades in the petroleum industry and rose to become chairman of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the country’s biggest oil producer.

He has links going back to the 1980s with Zhou Yongkang, himself a former CNPC chief who went on to become China’s hugely powerful internal security chief but was charged with bribery and abuse of power this month.