Overview
- The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court delivered a first-instance death sentence to Yang Youlin after finding he took more than 2.21 billion yuan in bribes over a 30-year span.
- Yang was convicted of bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering and the court said his crimes caused exceptionally heavy losses.
- The court ordered the confiscation of all of Yang’s personal property and said recovered illicit gains have been handed to the state treasury while efforts continue to trace and seize any outstanding assets.
- Yang pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in public hearings, but the court said his cooperation was insufficient to merit leniency and the judgment is a first-instance ruling that can still be appealed.
- The case, reported on Monday, is presented as part of President Xi Jinping’s long anti-corruption campaign and follows a small number of recent high-value graft prosecutions that resulted in death sentences or executions.