A court in eastern China has sentenced former Nanjing official Yang Youlin to death after finding him guilty of accepting more than 2.2 billion yuan (about $325 million) in bribes over a 30-year period.
Yang, 69, was convicted of bribery, embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering. Prosecutors said he used his positions in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023 to help companies and individuals secure engineering contracts, land deals and financing in exchange for huge sums of money and expensive gifts.
According to the Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court, Yang’s crimes were “extremely serious” and caused “exceptionally heavy losses” to the interests of the state and the public.
BBC reported that his case emerged during President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted senior officials across government, the military and the financial sector.
Although Yang cooperated with investigators, admitted guilt and expressed remorse in court, judges ruled that the scale of his offences was too severe to justify a lighter sentence.
Death penalties for financial crimes remain uncommon in China but are still imposed in cases involving exceptionally large amounts of money.
In 2021, former financial executive Lai Xiaomin was executed after being convicted of taking 1.8 billion yuan in bribes over a decade. Three years later, former Inner Mongolia official Li Jianping was also executed for corruption offences involving more than 3 billion yuan.
While many officials convicted of corruption receive lengthy prison terms or suspended death sentences that are later reduced to life imprisonment, the court said Yang’s case warranted the harshest punishment despite his cooperation with authorities.
