Liu Tienan, the former deputy chief of China’s economic planning agency, pleaded guilty to taking bribes in court on Wednesday. The admission came at the conclusion of his one-day trial, a sign of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s continued crackdown on corruption. “Faced with the facts, I have been asking myself every time I read the indictment, is this me? How did I end up like this?” he said, according to court transcripts. “Each morning as I wake up, I wonder where I am and how I have fallen into this state of depravation.” Liu allegedly took 36 million yuan ($5.9 million) in bribes from petrochemical and automobile firms from 2002 to 2012. The court said the final verdict will be announced at a later date. Liu could face 10 years to life in prison.
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