A court in eastern China has sentenced former Nanjing city official Yang Youlin to death after convicting him of accepting more than 2.214 billion yuan (about $325 million) in bribes over a period spanning three decades, in one of the country’s largest corruption cases.
Gatekeepers News reports that Yang, who held several influential positions in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023, including executive deputy director of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone and director of the Jiangning District Construction Bureau, was found guilty of using his offices to award engineering contracts, facilitate land transfers, approve business operations and influence financial transactions in exchange for huge sums of money and valuable assets.
In addition to bribery, the court convicted him of embezzlement, abuse of power, misappropriation of public funds and money laundering. Prosecutors said Yang colluded with others to embezzle government funds, paid bribes to fellow officials to obtain unlawful benefits, diverted public money for private business ventures and authorised illegal property demolitions and land fee refunds that caused substantial financial losses to the state. He was also found to have laundered part of his illicit proceeds through a company under his control.
The court ordered the confiscation of all Yang’s personal assets and said the illicit funds and property linked to the crimes would be recovered by the state. During the trial, Yang reportedly expressed remorse for his actions. The sentence underscores China’s continuing anti-corruption campaign, which has seen several senior officials investigated and punished in recent years.
