China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Former Tianjin leader gets 12 years for bribery
The former acting Party chief and mayor of Tianjin, Huang Xingguo, was given a 12-year prison sentence and fined 3 million yuan ($453,370) by a court in Hebei province on Monday for taking bribes.
Huang, 63, was given a lenient sentence after confessing. He took the initiative to tell judicial authorities of previously unknown facts about his criminal activities, according to the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court.
The court also said Huang reported criminal tips about other people to judicial authorities, which have been verified. Further, he surrendered all his ill-gotten gains.
Huang used his position for the benefit of others through promotions and obtaining land for projects, then accepted bribes valued at more than 40 million yuan, either by himself or through others, from 1994 to 2016, the court determined.
Huang was in various posts during the time, including Party chief of Taizhou city, Zhejiang province, vice-governor of Zhejiang, Party chief of Ningbo, Zhejiang, and mayor and acting Party chief of Tianjin.
Huang, whose hometown is in Xiangshan county, Zhejiang, worked in the province for more than 30 years before he was transferred to Tianjin as vice-mayor and deputy Party chief at the end of 2003.
He was promoted to acting Party chief of Tianjin while continuing to be the mayor there at the end of 2014.
Huang pleaded guilty when he was tried in August.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the country’s top corruption watchdog, launched an investigation into Huang for “serious violations of Party discipline” in September 2016.
The commission said he severely violated the Party’s rules and code of conduct and failed to follow major decisions made by central leaders. He also resisted an investigation by anti-graft inspectors.
He was expelled from the Party and removed from his administrative post in January.