China Sentences Former Official to Death Over $325 Million Bribery Case

A court in eastern China has sentenced former senior official Yang Youlin to death after finding him guilty of accepting more than 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) in bribes over a 30-year period, in one of the country’s largest corruption cases in recent years.  

Yang, 69, served in several positions in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023, including as executive deputy director of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee. Prosecutors said he used his offices to help individuals and companies secure engineering contracts, land transfers, financing and business opportunities in exchange for money and valuable assets.  

The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court also convicted Yang of embezzlement, offering bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power and money laundering. In addition to the death sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of his personal assets and the recovery of his illicit gains.

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According to the court, Yang’s offences were “of an extremely serious nature” and caused “exceptionally heavy losses to the interests of the state and the people.” Although he pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and cooperated with investigators, the court ruled that the gravity of his crimes outweighed any mitigating factors.  

Yang’s conviction is part of President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign, which has led to the investigation and prosecution of thousands of officials across China’s political, military and financial sectors. Supporters describe the campaign as a drive to restore public trust, while critics argue it has also been used to sideline political rivals.  

Death sentences for corruption remain rare in China but are typically reserved for cases involving exceptionally large sums or severe abuses of public office. Yang is the latest high-profile official to receive the country’s harshest punishment for graft.  

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