Chinese provincial chief given suspended death sentence for role in major corruption scandal
- Former Shaanxi party boss Zhao Zhengyong was found guilty of accepting more than US$100m in bribes
- Officials in province ignored orders from President Xi Jinping to tear down illegal villas in Qinling Mountains
The former party chief of Shaanxi province has been given a suspended death sentence for his part in a major corruption scandal.
Zhao Zhengyong, 69, was found guilty of receiving bribes of 717 million yuan (US$102 million) for approving construction projects, business operations and appointments to government jobs, according to the official website of the Tianjin No 1 Intermediate People’s Court, where his case was heard.
The court said the scale of his corruption merited a death sentence but it would be suspended for two years because Zhao had confessed to his crimes.
After that it will be commuted to life in prison, but he will not be entitled to any further sentence reduction.
Zhao’s case attracted national attention after officials ignored instructions from President Xi Jinping to tear down illegally constructed villas in the Qinling Mountains, a national reserve.
