Chinese legal community asks: where is the line on death penalty for corrupt officials?

Inner Mongolia court dismisses appeal by party official who pleaded guilty to pocketing more than US$422 million and was sentenced to death

Reading Time:4 minutes

Even though millions of officials have been caught up in China’s anti-corruption campaign, it is rare for death sentences not to be suspended in corruption cases. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 4:00pm, 8 Sep 2024Updated: 12:41pm, 17 Dec 2024

China may see more death sentences handed down to corrupt officials in the future as President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption efforts reach into lucrative sectors and the spoils of corruption rise, according to Chinese law practitioners and observers.

The Chinese legal community’s latest discussion about standards for the death penalty come after a court in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region upheld the death sentence of a local official who pleaded guilty to pocketing more than 3 billion yuan (US$422 million) in total.

On August 27, Inner Mongolia’s regional high court dismissed an appeal by Li Jianping, 64, former party secretary of the economic and technological development zone in Hohhot, the region’s capital city.

10:14

‘No one is safe’: China purges record number of ‘tiger’ officials in 2023

He was executed Tuesday, after his death sentence was approved by the Supreme People’s Court, in line with a practice observed since 2006.

The local court said in a statement that day that Li had been granted a final meeting with his family before the execution.

Li was also found guilty of condoning a local mafia organisation that carried out numerous illegal and criminal activities.

Even though more than 4 million officials have been caught up in China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign since Xi Jinping came to power at the end of 2012, it is rare for death sentences not to be suspended in corruption cases.

Li is only the third known case among officials handed the death penalty in the past decade. The others were Lai Xiaomin and Bai Tianhui, the former chairman and general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, one of the country’s largest state-controlled asset management firms.