Ex-aide of disgraced China security tsar Zhou Yongkang jailed for corruption
Former Communist Party chief in Hebei province, Zhou Benshun, sentenced to 15 years in prison on corruption charges
A former Communist Party chief in Hebei, who once declared “I don’t wear masks” when questioned about smog in the heavily-polluted province, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for taking bribes, making him the latest close associate of the disgraced security tsar Zhou Yongkang to be thrown behind bars.
Zhou Benshun, who previously served as an aide to Zhou Yongkang, was convicted on Tuesday of taking more than 40 million yuan (US$5.8 million) in bribes directly or through his family, a court in Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province said in a statement.
As the party secretary of Hebei from March 2013 until the investigation into his affairs in July 2015, Zhou Benshun on occasion made national headlines.
At one meeting with President Xi Jinping, Zhou and his provincial colleagues were “sweating” when Xi pressed them to cut pollution, according to the China Economic Weekly, an official magazine.
At a session during the 2014 National People’s Congress, Zhou was asked by journalists whether he wore a mask as the smog was so terrible in his province, Zhou answered: “I don’t wear masks”.
