Former senior official confesses to corruption

Bai Enpei, a former senior official with China's top legislature, admitted to corruption charges during a court trial on Thursday.

Bai, formerly deputy head of the Environment and Resources Protection Committee of the National People's Congress, pleaded no contest to charges of illegally gaining nearly 250 million yuan ($38 million) and the accusation that his family's expenditure was far greater than its income, according to a statement by Anyang Intermediate People's Court in Henan province, where a public hearing was held on Thursday.

The 69-year-old was the top official in Qinghai province from 1999 to 2001 and the top official in Yunnan province from 2001 to 2011, before he took the senior post at the NPC.