China Daily Global Edition (USA)
3 more high-level ex-officials get prison for graft
Two former senior officials and an ex-chairman of a Stateowned company have been convicted and sentenced on graft charges, following the convictions of six high-level officials on Wednesday.
Liu Zhigeng, former vicegovernor of Guangdong province, was given a life sentence for accepting bribes valued at more than 98 million yuan ($14.4 million), a local court in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region ruled on Wednesday.
Liu was deprived of political rights and all his ill-gotten assets were confiscated. He confessed his crime in court and said he would not appeal.
The verdict said that Liu had taken advantage of different posts to accept huge bribes personally or through family members from 1993 to 2012. In return, he sought improper benefits for others involving acquisition of stock, land interests and bank loans.
During the 19 years, Liu’s jobs included serving as the leading official of Longgang district in Shenzhen, and mayor and Party chief of Dongguan, Guangdong. He became vice-governor of the province at the end of 2011 and was placed under investigation for corruption in February 2016.
Song Lin, former chairman of the Hong Kong-based China Resources Group — a vice-ministerial level position — received a sentence of 14 years in prison and a fine of 4 million yuan at Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on Thursday. All his illegal gains were confiscated.
Song embezzled 9.74 million yuan while in different executive positions with the company from 2004 to 2013. He also took bribes of 23.32 million yuan in exchange for favors in project cooperation, investment and job promotions, the verdict said.
Also on Wednesday, Wang Yang, a former senior legislator in Liaoning province, was given 16 years and six months in prison for bribery and election fraud.
Wang was found guilty of taking advantage of his positions to provide unfair advantages to others in enterprise management, project construction and job promotions, in return accepting money and property worth over 62.9 million yuan from the end of 2006 to January 2013, according to the verdict handed down by a local court in Heilongjiang province.
He also had served as mayor or Party chief of three cities in Liaoning during that time.
Wang was convicted of influencing an election when he was running for deputy head of the standing committee of the provincial people’s congress between December 2012 and January 2013 by soliciting votes through bribery and lobbying, the verdict said.
Wang was ordered to pay a fine of 3 million yuan and all his illicit assets were confiscated.
Liu, Song and Wang were given lenient punishments because they confessed their crimes, showed remorse and cooperated in returning their illegal gains, according to the courts.
Among the six other former senior officials convicted on Wednesday was Wang Baoan, former head of the National Bureau of Statistics, who was sentenced to life in prison for taking bribes worth 153 million yuan.
China has undertaken a sweeping campaign against graft since late 2012 to fight both corrupt “tigers” and “flies”, which refers to highranking and low-ranking officials respectively.
So far, more than 140 officials of ministerial-level or above have been investigated over allegations of corruption, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the top anti-graft watchdog.