Death penalty in China for senior municipal official for bribes of 300 million dollars last

The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court found Yang guilty of bribery, embezzlement, paying bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering, according to the ruling released by the court, according to the Legal Daily newspaper.

The sentence includes the deprivation of political rights for life and the confiscation of all his personal property.

The court further ordered that the recovered illicit assets and their returns be handed over to the state Treasury, while the outstanding amounts will continue to be claimed.

According to the ruling, between 1993 and 2023 Yang used the various positions he held in economic development, urban planning, construction and tourism organizations in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, one of the most economically developed provinces in China, to favor companies and individuals in the awarding of works, business operations, transfer of land and circulation of funds.

In exchange, he received goods with a total value of more than 2,214 million yuan (308.7 million US dollars).

The court described the amount of the bribes as “especially enormous”, noted that the case had an “especially negative social impact” and considered that the crimes caused particularly serious losses to the interests of the State and citizens.

Although Yang provided information about crimes committed by other people, the court found that this cooperation was not enough to justify a reduction in sentence.

In China, death sentences suspended for two years are common in major corruption cases, which are usually commuted to life imprisonment if the convicted person does not commit new crimes during that period.

Unsuspended death sentences are less common in these types of cases and are reserved for cases considered extremely serious.

After coming to power in 2012, the Chinese president and general secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping, promoted a broad anti-corruption campaign that has reached officials at all levels and heads of state-owned companies.