The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Life sentence for former security chief
China: High-ranking Zhou pays price of anti-corruption drive
China’s former security chief has been sentenced to life in prison on corruption charges.
Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the ruling Communist Party’s allpowerful politburo standing committee, is the biggest target to fall in President Xi Jinping’s drive to end the long-standing culture of bribe-taking among officials.
The First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin said Zhou was sentenced after being tried on May 22 on charges of receiving bribes, abuse of power and leaking state secrets. The trial was held behind closed doors because of the final charge.
Zhou, 72, was sentenced to lesser terms on the abuse of power and state secrets charges, and was ordered
“He inflicted enormous damage to public finances and the interests of the people”
to serve his sentences concurrently.
The sentence also orders the seizure of all Zhou’s personal assets.
While portrayed simply as a blow against corruption, Zhou’s sentencing removes a potential challenge to Xi’s authority and has been widely perceived as reflecting factional politics within the ruling party’s uppermost echelon. Zhou is the highest-ranking former politician to face court since the 1981 treason trial of Mao Tse Tung’s wife and other members of the “Gang of Four” who persecuted political opponents during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution.
The dour- faced and once-feared Zhou had been under investigation since late 2013. The investigation also scrutinised Zhou’s former allies in government and the oil industry.
According to the court, Zhou received a total of 130 million yuan ($21million) in bribes and used his influence to allow others to realise 2.1billion ($343million) in profits on business dealings that caused 1.4billion ($229million) in losses for the state. Zhou’s actions “inflicted enormous damage to public finances and the interests of the nation and the people”, the court said.
The court said Zhou had accepted its decision and would not file an appeal. While the charges potentially merited a death sentence, it said Zhou received leniency after confessing and showing repentance and ordering his relatives to hand over the majority of their gains.