A Chinese court sentenced a former government official to death for accepting bribes

A court in eastern China has sentenced a former city official to death for taking more than 2.2 billion yuan ($325 million; £243 million) in bribes over a 30-year period.

Yang Youlin, who served in various positions in the city of Nanjing from 1993 to 2023, was also convicted of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering, with his ill-gotten gains among the highest in recent years.

The 69-year-old used his role to help others obtain engineering contracts, land transfers and financing, in exchange for money and valuables, state media said.

The probe is part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption crackdown, which has cut ranks in the military, high-ranking banking and other sectors.

Yang, who spent most of his career working on economic and technological development in Nanjing, had committed offenses “of a very serious nature” and “caused enormous harm to the interests of the state and the people”, a court in the city of Changzhou said on Monday.

Since coming to power, President Xi has launched a wave of anti-corruption drives, which critics say have also been used as a tool to eliminate political rivals.

But the death penalty for white-collar crimes remains rare, although it is sometimes imposed, usually when the case involves a large amount exceeding 1 billion yuan.

For example, former chief financial officer Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 for taking 1.8 billion yuan in bribes over a 10-year period.

Li Jianping, a former Inner Mongolian official, was executed in 2024 for embezzling and accepting bribes totaling more than 3 billion yuan.

In many other cases, courts impose prison sentences or suspended death sentences, which are then commuted to life imprisonment after a certain period of time.

Courts have also reduced sentences in some cases where convicts reported other offenders.

But even though Yang provided similar assistance to authorities, his offenses were so “grave” that his assistance was “not sufficient to warrant a lighter sentence”, the Changzhou court said.

Yang pleaded guilty and “expressed regret in his final statement”, according to state media.