'Brother Watch' pleads guilty to corruption

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'Brother Watch' pleads guilty to corruption

By Ma Lie (China Daily) 11:01, September 01, 2013

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Yang Dacai, former head of the Shaanxi provincial work safety administration, stands bribery trial at Xi'an City Intermediate People's Court, Aug 30, Northwest China's Shaanxi province. (Photo/Xinhua)

A former official of Shaanxi province, who drew public outrage last summer after a news photo showed him smiling at the site of a deadly highway crash and for his collection of luxury watches, pleaded guilty to corruption charges on Friday in Xi'an.

Dubbed "Brother Watch" by Chinese netizens, Yang Dacai, 56, is on trial for bribery and holding unexplained properties worth 5.04 million yuan ($820,000). He is the former director of the Shaanxi provincial work safety administration.

At Xi'an Intermediate People's Court, Yang, with hundreds of local officials, local residents and media in attendance, said that he had no objections to the charges and confessed to accepting bribes.

The prosecution presented evidence that from May 2011 to March 2012, Yang, as director of the work safety administration, helped a company obtain a business qualification permit and received 250,000 yuan from the company.

Officials from the company testified in court on Friday to verify the evidence. Yang himself confessed that he received the money in his office.

The prosecution pointed out that property belonging to Yang and his family is estimated at 11.77 million yuan, of which 5.04 million yuan in property could not be explained. Prosecutors also said Yang's wife and son made 11.15 million yuan in separate investments.

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