A court in China has sentenced a former government official to death for accepting bribes worth approximately $325 million (2.2 billion yuan). The court in the eastern city of Changzhou handed down the verdict on Monday, according to the BBC.
The convicted official, Yang Yulin (69), held various senior positions in the city of Nanjing from 1993 to 2023. According to the court’s ruling, he abused his power over nearly three decades, accepting massive sums in bribes and valuable goods in exchange for favors involving engineering projects, land transfers and financing arrangements.
Alongside bribery, Yang was also convicted of embezzling public funds, abuse of power and money laundering. The court said his crimes were extremely serious and caused extensive harm to the interests of the state and the public.
The investigation into Yang began as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. In recent years, Beijing has carried out extensive crackdowns on corruption within the military, the banking sector and various government institutions.
While the death penalty is relatively rare for financial crimes in China, such sentences are handed down in serious corruption cases involving more than 1 billion yuan. Previously, former financial official Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021, and former Inner Mongolia official Li Jianping in 2024, both on charges of large-scale bribery and embezzlement.
According to state media, Yang Yulin admitted his guilt in court and expressed remorse in his final statement. However, despite cooperating with the investigation, the scale of his crimes was so severe that the court found no grounds for leniency.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report