Former head of state tobacco administration sentenced to 16 years

Ling Chengxing, former head of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, has been sentenced to 16 years in prison over corruption, a court in Jilin province announced on Wednesday.

Ling was given a 13-year imprisonment for accepting bribes and a five-year sentence for abuse of power, the Changchun Intermediate People's Court ruled, noting that it decided to combine the punishments for the multiple offenses and sentenced him to 16 years.

Ling was also fined 4 million yuan ($555,156), and his illicit gains and any interest eared from them would be confiscated and turned over to the national treasury, according to the ruling made by the court.

After an investigation, the court found that Ling, from 2006 to 2023, took his positions, including deputy governor of Jiangxi province and head of the administration, to seek benefits for some individuals and departments in various matters such as project contracting and business operation. In exchange, he accepted bribes worth more than 43.11 million yuan.

Additionally, since 2015, he engaged in malpractice and abuse of power during the facilitation, review of related investments, and acquisition of equity, causing losses of over 208 million yuan to the nation, the court said.

It said that Ling's acts constituted the crimes of bribe-taking and abuse of power, and should be harshly punished due to the "extremely large" amount of bribes and "extremely significant" losses.

But the court eventually leniently penalized him because he confessed to the crimes, showed remorse, failed to obtain some bribes, voluntarily disclosed some bribes that were previously unknown to investigators and voluntarily returned illicit gains.

Ling, 67, a native of Jiangxi, joined the Communist Party of China in 1977 and began his career in 1980. After working for his hometown for more than two decades, he became head of the administration in 2013.

In October 2023, he was placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of the Party disciplines and national laws.

In April 2024, he was expelled from the Party. In November, he was prosecuted for suspected bribery and abuse of power. In January, the court publicly heard the case.