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China sentences official to death for bribery

2026-07-07 18:42:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A court in eastern China has sentenced a former city official to death for taking more than 2.2 billion yuan ($325 million; £243 million) in bribes over 30 years.

Yang Youlin, who served in various positions in the city of Nanjing from 1993 to 2023, was also convicted of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering, with his illegal profits reaching one of the highest in recent years.

The 69-year-old exploited his roles to help others secure engineering contracts, land transfers and financing, in exchange for money and valuables, state media said.

Yang was investigated as part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption crackdown, which has affected military ranks and high-level banks, among other sectors.

Yang, who spent most of his career working in economic and technological development in Nanjing, had committed criminal offenses "of an extremely serious nature" and "caused extremely heavy losses to the interests of the state and the people," a court in the city of Changzhou said on Monday.

Since coming to power, President Xi has launched a wave of anti-corruption campaigns, which critics say have also been used as a tool to purge political rivals.

However, death sentences for crimes by white-collar workers remain rare, although they are occasionally handed down, usually if the cases involve large sums exceeding 1 billion yuan.

For example, former finance chief Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 for taking 1.8 billion yuan in bribes over a 10-year period.

Li Jianping, a former Inner Mongolia official, was executed in 2024 for embezzlement and bribery totaling more than 3 billion yuan.

In many other cases, courts handed down prison sentences or suspended death sentences, which are commuted to life imprisonment after a certain period of time.

Courts have also reduced sentences in some cases where convicted individuals have reported other offenders.

But while Yang offered similar assistance to authorities, his criminal offenses were so "serious" that his assistance "was not sufficient to justify a more lenient sentence," the Changzhou court said.

Yang pleaded guilty and "expressed regret in his final statement," according to state media.