China Sentences Ex-Government Official to Death for $325 Million Bribery
A Chinese court has sentenced a former senior government official to death after finding him guilty of accepting more than $325 million (2.2 billion yuan) in bribes over a period spanning three decades.
The convicted official, Yang Youlin, was found guilty of bribery, embezzlement, abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds, and money laundering. According to the court, he used the various public offices he held between 1993 and 2023 to facilitate engineering contracts, land transactions, business approvals, and financing arrangements in exchange for massive illegal payments.
The court held that the scale of the corruption, the enormous financial losses involved, and the damage caused to public trust justified the death sentence, despite Yang pleading guilty and expressing remorse.
The ruling forms part of China’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which has seen numerous high-ranking officials investigated and prosecuted in recent years. The case has drawn international attention and underscores China’s tough stance against corruption, particularly in cases involving exceptionally large sums of money and abuse of public office.
