Ex-Gov. Tang Renjian, to die for bribery.
By agency reports
A Chinese court in Jilin Province has sentenced former Governor of Western Gansu Province from 2007 to 2024, Tang Renjian, to death for taking nearly 38 million dollars in bribes.
The court found that Tang, who is also a former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, used senior positions at central and local levels to help others secure business deals, win project bids, and obtain promotions.
China’s News Agency, Xinhua, reports that Tang, in return, accepted bribes amounting to more than 268 million yuan (about $38 million).
Delivering judgment, the court also permanently stripped him of his political rights.
The court further ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets, while all illicit funds acquired by him will be seized and handed to the state.
Tang had pleaded guilty and apologised in his closing statement.
The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court however suspended the execution of his death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes.
China’s Communist Party had earlier expelled Tang in Nov. 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post.
Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar investigations into defence minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe.
President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020.
The President stressed that he was seeking to ensure police, prosecutors and judges were “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable”.
In January, Xi said corruption was the biggest threat to China’s Communist Party and remains on the rise.
