Liu Bin, a Chinese archaeologist credited with discovering a vast 5,000-year-old prehistoric city that rewrote the history of Chinese civilisation, has pleaded guilty to taking bribes and embezzlement.
The celebrated academic, who discovered the Liangzhu ruins – a Unesco World Heritage site in eastern China’s Zhejiang province – and long oversaw its excavation and heritage nomination, accepted the charges, according to news outlet Southern Weekly.
During a court hearing in Zhejiang on May 20, Liu was accused of using his position to help specific organisations and individuals secure and execute contracts for cultural relics protection and archaeological survey projects between 2009 and 2021.
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The Zhejiang University professor and former director of the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology admitted accepting bribes totalling around 4.65 million yuan (US$685,900).
He was also accused of inflating the costs of projects related to the Liangzhu civilisation while he was director of the institute, and of siphoning off 300,000 yuan in research funding.
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During the trial, his defence team argued that Liu had voluntarily confessed, shown a good attitude, deeply repented, and returned all 4.9 million yuan he received in bribes and embezzlement, Southern Weekly reported.
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