China sentences ex-Nanjing official to death in huge graft case

A court in eastern China has sentenced former Nanjing official Yang Youlin to death after finding him guilty of taking more than 2.21 billion yuan, or about US$325 million, in bribes over three decades.

The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court in Jiangsu province delivered the first-instance judgment on Monday, finding that Yang had accepted money and valuables while holding a series of government posts in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023. Reuters reported that Yang was also convicted of abuse of power and money laundering, among other offences.

Former development zone official convicted

Yang was formerly executive deputy director of the administrative committee of the Nanjing Development Zone. Xinhua said the court also convicted him of embezzlement, offering bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering.

According to the court, Yang used his previous posts in Nanjing to help organisations and individuals secure engineering contracts, business operations, land transfers and financing. In return, he illegally accepted money and valuables worth more than 2.21 billion yuan in total.

China Daily, citing the court ruling, said Yang had also served in roles including adviser to the Nanjing Niushou Mountain Cultural Tourism Zone and deputy director of the administrative committee of the Nanjing Development Zone.

Court says offences caused heavy losses

The court said Yang’s offences were extremely serious and had caused major losses to the interests of the state and the public.

It ordered the deprivation of his political rights for life and the confiscation of all his personal property. China Daily reported that illicit gains and related proceeds were seized and ordered to be turned over to the state treasury.

Xinhua said Yang had reported offences committed by others and that those reports were verified. However, the court found that this was not enough to justify a lighter punishment, given the facts, circumstances and social harm of his bribery offence.

Public hearings in the case were held on March 18 and April 28. During the trial, prosecutors, Yang and his defence counsel cross-examined evidence and gave their accounts. Yang pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his final statement, according to Xinhua.

Rare death sentence in corruption case

The ruling is among the harshest punishments handed down in a Chinese corruption case in recent years.

Reuters reported that death sentences and actual executions over graft remain rare in China, even though President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign has led to investigations across the country’s vast bureaucracy. Suspended death sentences, which are often later commuted to life imprisonment, are more common in major bribery cases.

The Yang case adds to a small number of high-profile corruption cases in which Chinese courts have imposed the death penalty.

In another major case, Zhang Zhongsheng, an official from Shanxi province, was found guilty of ⁠taking ​over 1 billion yuan in bribes and sentenced ​to death in 2018, which on appeal was changed in 2021 to a suspended death sentence ​and life imprisonment..

Xi’s anti-graft drive remains politically charged

Yang’s investigation formed part of Xi’s long-running anti-corruption drive. The campaign has reached officials across the civil service, military and financial sector.

Supporters of the campaign say it has helped punish large-scale abuse of power and restore discipline within the state. Critics, however, have argued that anti-corruption investigations have also been used partly to remove political rivals.

Reuters said millions of people within China’s bureaucracy have been investigated during the campaign, although many cases end in disciplinary action rather than court convictions or death sentences.

Reuters