A Chinese court has sentenced a former senior official to death after finding he accepted more than $325 million in bribes over three decades, highlighting Beijing’s continuing anti-corruption campaign against high-ranking public officials despite the rarity of capital punishment for financial crimes.
A court in eastern China has sentenced former Nanjing official Yang Youlin to death after convicting him of accepting more than 2.2 billion yuan ($325 million; £243 million) in bribes over a 30-year period.
The 69-year-old was also found guilty of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering, making his case one of China’s largest corruption scandals in recent years.
According to Chinese state media, Yang used his positions in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023 to help businesses and individuals secure engineering contracts, land transfers and financing approvals in exchange for large sums of money and valuable gifts.
The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court ruled that Yang’s crimes were “extremely serious” and had caused “exceptionally heavy losses to the interests of the state and the people.”
His conviction comes as part of President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted senior officials across the government, military, financial sector and state-owned enterprises. While supporters describe the campaign as a drive to clean up corruption, critics argue it has also been used to sideline political rivals.
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Although China imposes harsh penalties for corruption, death sentences for financial crimes remain relatively uncommon and are generally reserved for cases involving exceptionally large sums.
Among the most notable recent cases, former financial regulator Lai Xiaomin was executed in 2021 after being convicted of taking 1.8 billion yuan in bribes over a decade.
In 2024, former Inner Mongolia official Li Jianping was also executed after being found guilty of embezzling and accepting more than 3 billion yuan in illicit payments.
Many other corruption cases instead result in lengthy prison terms or suspended death sentences, which are often commuted to life imprisonment after a specified period if the offender demonstrates good behaviour.
Although Yang cooperated with investigators and provided information that assisted authorities, the court ruled that the seriousness of his offences outweighed any mitigating factors.
State media reported that Yang pleaded guilty and expressed remorse during his final statement before sentencing.
