A court in eastern China has sentenced former senior local government official Yang Youlin to death after convicting him of accepting bribes worth more than 2.21 billion yuan (about 325 million dollars).
The Intermediate People’s Court in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, delivered the judgment on Monday, also ordering the lifelong deprivation of Yang’s political rights and the confiscation of all his personal assets.
Yang, the former executive deputy director of the administrative committee of the Nanjing Development Zone, was convicted of bribery, embezzlement, offering bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering.
According to the court, Yang exploited various official positions he held in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023 to help organisations and individuals obtain engineering contracts, facilitate business operations, secure land transfers and access financing.
In return, he accepted cash and valuables valued at more than 2.21 billion yuan.
The court also found that Yang conspired with others to fraudulently obtain government funds, bribed state officials to gain improper benefits, diverted funds from state-owned companies for private business operations, and unlawfully approved land demolition and development projects, causing serious social consequences.
He further authorised illegal refunds of land transfer fees, resulting in significant financial losses to the state, and concealed proceeds from his bribery offences by channeling funds through companies under his control.
The court ruled that the scale of Yang’s bribery and the gravity of his crimes warranted the death penalty, citing the enormous financial losses inflicted on the state and the severe social impact of his actions.
Although Yang reported criminal activities committed by others, which investigators later verified, the court said this cooperation was insufficient to justify a reduced sentence given the seriousness of his offences.
Public hearings in the case were held on March 18 and April 28, during which prosecutors, Yang and his defence lawyers presented evidence and arguments.
Yang pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his final statement.
Source: NAN
