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By Lawrence Agbo
A Chinese court 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 period spanning three decades.
The ruling, delivered on Monday, also convicted Yang of embezzlement, abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering, making the case one of the largest corruption scandals prosecuted in China.
According to the court, Yang exploited several senior positions he held in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023 to manipulate engineering contracts, land transactions, business operations and financial dealings in exchange for huge sums of money and valuable property.
Investigators said he accepted illicit benefits worth over 2.214 billion yuan while abusing his public office for personal gain.
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The court further found that between 2014 and 2016, Yang conspired with others to embezzle 12 million yuan in government funds. He was also found to have paid more than 25 million yuan in bribes to other officials, diverted 15 million yuan in public funds for private business activities and caused state losses estimated at 23 million yuan through illegal land-related transactions and unauthorised property demolitions.
In addition, prosecutors established that Yang attempted to launder one million yuan of criminal proceeds in 2023 through a company under his control.
Although the court acknowledged that Yang cooperated with investigators by providing information that helped expose other criminal offences, judges ruled that the scale of his crimes, the enormous financial losses and their impact on society outweighed any mitigating factors.
Yang pleaded guilty during public hearings held in March and April and expressed remorse for his actions.
Along with the death sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets and permanently stripped him of his political rights.
