A Chinese court has sentenced former Justice Minister Tang Yijun to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of accepting bribes worth nearly $20 million over more than a decade.
Tang, 64, served as China’s justice minister from 2020 to 2023 and previously held other senior roles, including governor of Liaoning province and Communist Party chief of Ningbo.
In a statement on Monday, the Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court said Tang abused his official positions between 2006 and 2022 to secure benefits for individuals and companies.
These included assistance with initial public offerings (IPOs), bank loans, land acquisitions, and other business-related matters.
The court said Tang received a total of 137 million yuan, equivalent to about $19.7 million, describing the bribe amount as “particularly high” and saying it caused “extremely serious damage” to the interests of the state and the public.
However, the court noted that Tang’s sentence took into account mitigating factors, including his confession, remorse, guilty plea, and cooperation with investigators.
The conviction comes amid President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, launched after he took power in 2012.
While Beijing frames the crackdown as necessary to strengthen governance, critics argue it is also used to weaken or remove political rivals.
Tang is not the first former justice minister to face such punishment.
In 2022, ex-justice minister Fu Zhenghua was convicted of corruption and handed a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, later commuted to life imprisonment.
Meanwhile, Chinese authorities also announced last month that they had launched an anti-corruption investigation into Zhang Youxia, China’s most powerful general making him one of the highest-ranking military figures targeted in decades
