Son of Chinese official jailed for trying to bribe professor
The son of a Chinese official studying in Britain has been jailed for a year for trying to bribe a university professor to help him pass his degree.
Yang Li, 26, was jailed for trying to bribe a Bath University professor with £5,000 (HK$59,052), the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
The Mail also reported that during the meeting with Professor Andrew Graves and another academic, Dr Stephen Shepherd, an 0.177 air pistol dropped out of Li’s pocket.
Li admitted to bribery and possession of an imitation firearm. He was sentenced in Bristol Crown Court to 12 months for bribery and six months on a firearms’ charge.
The court was told the Chinese student had been studying a masters’ degree in innovation and technology management in England. But he was very worried about failing.
At the meeting, Li told Professor Graves he was a “businessman” before taking out the cash.
He then said: “You can keep the money if you give me a pass mark and I won’t bother you again.”
Li was then told to leave and as he was doing so, the air pistol dropped out of his coat.
The Chinese student was upset he had only been awarded 37 per cent for his final dissertation. This amounted to a fail. It meant Li would have to spend an extra year at university.
It would also affect his visa, which he was hoping to extend, the Mail reported.
Defending Li, Blake James noted that he came from a rich family in the mainland, where his father was a government official and businessman.
James said Li had come to Britain in 2006 and completed a Computer Science degree at the University of Bath, which is in Somerset, Southwest England.
He argued that the 26-year-old had only withdrawn the large sum of cash “for the weekend”. James argued that Li had not planned to bribe anyone with it. The lawyer also said Li had no intention of using the air pistol, which he only ever fired at targets.
But Judge Michael Longman rejected these arguments. In sentencing Li, the judge said: “Any form of corruption or incitement to a person in any manner amounts to a serious offence which must be taken seriously by the court.”
Longman said Li’s offences showed his lack of understanding of the high standards demanded by public and private institutions in Britain, the Mail reported.
You attempted to persuade a university professor to behave in such a way that if it had been successful you would have undermined the integrity of the universities in the UK and the legitimacy of degrees from universities here, the University of Bath in particular.
Your bid to achieve a pass mark by offering what was a bribe to your professor was ill conceived to the point of being a spectacular mistake and one which was doomed to fail from the start.
This was made even more serious by the fact that you had an imitation firearm in your possession.
I have no doubt that it provoked fear in Professor Graves, though I am satisfied that you did not acquire it for the purpose of the meeting.
But you plainly did know you had it on you, and you risked others at the meeting seeing it
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Son of Chinese official jailed for trying to bribe professor
The son of a Chinese official studying in Britain has been jailed for a year for trying to bribe a university professor to help him pass his degree.
Yang Li, 26, was jailed for trying to bribe a Bath University professor with £5,000 (HK$59,052), the Daily Mail reported on Wednesday.
The Mail also reported that during the meeting with Professor Andrew Graves and another academic, Dr Stephen Shepherd, an 0.177 air pistol dropped out of Li’s pocket.
Li admitted to bribery and possession of an imitation firearm. He was sentenced in Bristol Crown Court to 12 months for bribery and six months on a firearms’ charge.
The court was told the Chinese student had been studying a masters’ degree in innovation and technology management in England. But he was very worried about failing.
At the meeting, Li told Professor Graves he was a “businessman” before taking out the cash.
He then said: “You can keep the money if you give me a pass mark and I won’t bother you again.”
Li was then told to leave and as he was doing so, the air pistol dropped out of his coat.
The Chinese student was upset he had only been awarded 37 per cent for his final dissertation. This amounted to a fail. It meant Li would have to spend an extra year at university.
It would also affect his visa, which he was hoping to extend, the Mail reported.
Defending Li, Blake James noted that he came from a rich family in the mainland, where his father was a government official and businessman.
James said Li had come to Britain in 2006 and completed a Computer Science degree at the University of Bath, which is in Somerset, Southwest England.
He argued that the 26-year-old had only withdrawn the large sum of cash “for the weekend”. James argued that Li had not planned to bribe anyone with it. The lawyer also said Li had no intention of using the air pistol, which he only ever fired at targets.
But Judge Michael Longman rejected these arguments. In sentencing Li, the judge said: “Any form of corruption or incitement to a person in any manner amounts to a serious offence which must be taken seriously by the court.”
Longman said Li’s offences showed his lack of understanding of the high standards demanded by public and private institutions in Britain, the Mail reported.
Judge Longman, sentencing, told Li:
You attempted to persuade a university professor to behave in such a way that if it had been successful you would have undermined the integrity of the universities in the UK and the legitimacy of degrees from universities here, the University of Bath in particular.
Your bid to achieve a pass mark by offering what was a bribe to your professor was ill conceived to the point of being a spectacular mistake and one which was doomed to fail from the start.
This was made even more serious by the fact that you had an imitation firearm in your possession.
I have no doubt that it provoked fear in Professor Graves, though I am satisfied that you did not acquire it for the purpose of the meeting.
But you plainly did know you had it on you, and you risked others at the meeting seeing it
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