Former Guizhou Party chief given death with reprieve for taking $114M in bribes

Sun Zhigang, former Party chief of Guizhou province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes worth more than 813 million yuan ($113.9 million), a court in Tianjin announced on Tuesday.

Sun was also deprived of his political rights for life, and all of his personal assets were confiscated, according to the ruling made by the Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court.

In China, if an inmate given a suspended death sentence commits no new crimes during reprieve, their sentences will usually be reduced to life imprisonment. If the prisoner continues to exhibit good behavior, their sentences may be further reduced, or they may become eligible for parole.

In Sun's case, if he behaves well during the reprieve, his prison term will be reduced to life imprisonment, but there will be no possibility of commutation or parole, the court said. It means he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The court added that Sun's illicit gains will be recovered and turned over to the State treasury.

The court's investigation found that Sun, from 2002 to August 2023, took advantage of his positions, including as vice-governor of Anhui province, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission and Party secretary of Guizhou, to seek profits for individuals and departments in various matters such as project contracting, developing real estate and procuring shares in enterprises. In return, he accepted bribes of over 813 million yuan.

The court said Sun had committed the crime of bribery.

"He should be sentenced to death because the amount of his bribes was extremely large and the circumstance of his offense was extremely serious, which had a greatly negative effect on society and caused extremely big losses to the country and the people," it said.

"Considering that he confessed to the crime, voluntarily shared some of the bribery facts unknown to investigators and returned his illicit gains, we leniently penalized him, giving him the suspended death sentence, but with no sentence reduction or parole," the court added.

Public information shows that Sun, a 70-year-old native of Henan province, began his career in 1971 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1976.

He worked in Hubei province from April 1985 to September 2006, holding positions such as vice-mayor of Wuhan, capital of Hubei, and mayor of Yichang.

Then, he went to Anhui, serving as vice-governor of the province until the end of 2010.

Subsequently, he worked at the National Development and Reform Commission and at the former national health and family planning commission.

In January 2016, he became governor of Guizhou province, and held the position of provincial Party chief from 2017 to the end of 2020.

Later, he served as the deputy head of the 13th National People's Congress Financial and Economic Affairs Committee.

In August 2023, he was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation, and earlier this year, he was expelled from the Party.

In May, he was indicted on the bribery charge, and the Tianjin court publicly heard his case in August.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn