Former official given death penalty in China over record bribe-taking

The former senior official was sentenced to death by the Changzhou Intermediate People's Court in Jiangsu province after accepting over 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) in bribes over 30 years, the court said.

The court found 69-year-old Yang Youlin guilty of bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, and abuse of power. The offenses were committed while he held various administrative positions from 1993 to 2023, including his role as deputy director of an economic zone in the eastern city of Nanjing.

In addition to the death sentence, the court stripped Yang of his political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of all his personal property and assets.

The ruling marks one of the most severe penalties handed down amid Beijing’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign. While Chinese courts frequentlyissue suspended death sentences that are eventually commuted to life imprisonment, the scale of Yang’s bribery resulted in the death penalty. This follows the execution last December of Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of a state-owned investment firm who was executed after being convicted of accepting 1.1 billion yuan ($156 million) in bribes.