On August 14, 2024, the Tianjin Second Intermediate People&9;s Court held a public first-instance trial for the bribery case of former Guizhou Provincial Party Secretary Sun Zhigang. (CCTV screenshot)
[People News] In my column Night Talk from Zhongnanhai on August 27, I discussed the criminal charges against Sun Zhigang, the former Party Secretary of Guizhou, in the article titled, “What Crimes Does the First Provincial Secretary Guilty of Corruption, Sun Zhigang, Deserve?” I mentioned former Supreme Court Vice President and first-class judge Shen Deyong, who, in 2015, led the amendment to criminal law and then drafted the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the Application of Law in Handling Criminal Cases of Embezzlement and Bribery. This amendment stipulates that bribery of over 3 million yuan is deemed “particularly large in amount” as per Article 383, warranting sentences of more than ten years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty if certain aggravating conditions are met, although lesser sentences could apply under circumstances like self-reporting, confession, cooperation, or restitution.
An article on a domestic website analyzing these guidelines states that the line seems to be 1 billion yuan: any amount above this results in certain death, while anything less typically does not. Thus, the likely sentence Sun Zhigang faced, with over 800 million yuan in bribes, was life imprisonment without parole.
At the time, I commented that regardless of whether Sun would face the death penalty, a reprieve with life imprisonment, or another sentence, there was legal precedent. Although Xi Jinping has not yet executed any official of Sun’s level or above, Sun Zhigang’s case broke records among provincial officials, and “colossal corruption” is hardly sufficient to describe it. Given Sun's conduct as both governor and Party secretary of Guizhou, which fostered intense public resentment, it wouldn’t be surprising if current Guizhou Secretary Xu Lin submitted a plea to Xi, suggesting Sun’s death as a necessity for public satisfaction.
Nevertheless, this scenario did not materialize. Sun Zhigang, the most corrupt provincial Party secretary thus far, was spared.
On October 29, Caixin, one of the most outspoken media outlets within China, scooped Xinhua by a few hours, publishing the headline “Guizhou’s Former Secretary Sun Zhigang Will Spend His Life in Prison: The Fourth Largest Briber in Two Years.”
The report detailed that over a period of 21 years, from 2002 to August 2023, Sun Zhigang accepted more than 813 million yuan in bribes. The Tianjin Second Intermediate Court concluded that his corruption “amounted to an extraordinarily large sum, with severe circumstances, a particularly egregious societal impact, and substantial harm to the interests of the state and the people, warranting the death penalty.” However, because of his attempted cooperation and other mitigating factors, the court imposed a reprieve on his death sentence, reducing it to life without parole.
In previous articles, I emphasized that Sun Zhigang’s corruption amount led among provincial-level officials, but when considering all central-level officials investigated under Xi’s leadership, Sun ranks fourth. The higher amounts belong to Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of Huarong Group, with 1.788 billion yuan; Sun Deshun, former president of China CITIC Bank, with 979.5 million yuan; and He Zehua, former deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, with 944.47 million yuan.
In the last article in my column Night Talk from Zhongnanhai, I noted how the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) often summarizes the primary crimes of officials who fall under its anti-corruption campaigns with phrases like “relying on X to profit from X,” whether “relying on finance to profit from finance,” “sports,” “education,” or “poverty alleviation,” and so on. For instance, “relying on military industry to profit from military industry” recently applied to He Wenzhong, while Fan Yifei, another official investigated for corruption in finance, was sentenced to life without parole.
Compared to Sun Deshun, who also “profited from finance,” Fan Yifei’s graft was minor. Sun Deshun, with the same last name as Sun Zhigang, surpassed Sun Zhigang’s amount by more than 160 million yuan.
Sun Deshun’s crimes were discovered post-retirement, focusing solely on his acceptance of over 979.5 million yuan in bribes to facilitate loans for various companies. The primary beneficiary of these loans was Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin. When Sun’s sentence was announced, one headline read, “The Banker Who Loaned to Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin Sentenced to Death with a Reprieve.”
Meanwhile, He Zehua stands as the quintessential case of “relying on tobacco to profit from tobacco.” Appointed in 2003 as the deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration after leading a local tobacco company, He remained in office until his retirement in March 2014. Though retired for nearly nine years, he was investigated in January 2023.
As of He Zehua’s investigation, the number of high-ranking officials in the tobacco industry, caught for corruption in what is called “relying on tobacco to eat tobacco,” has reached four. This includes Zhao Hongshun, who served as a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, who was investigated in February 2019 while still in office; Pan Jiahua, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s disciplinary inspection team stationed at the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration and member of its Party Committee, investigated in May 2021; and Ling Chengxing, former Party Secretary and Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration who retired five years ago, investigated on October 23, 2023. During He Zehua’s 11-year tenure as Deputy Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (from July 2003 to March 2014), he worked closely with these three “tobacco tigers.” The amount He Zehua was convicted of taking in bribes, which resulted in a death sentence with reprieve and life imprisonment, far exceeds the combined total of the other three officials’ corrupt gains.
Sun Deshun was sentenced to death with a reprieve and life imprisonment on January 10 of last year, and He Zehua was sentenced similarly on May 29 of this year. Now, Sun Zhigang has become the 18th high-ranking official to receive a death sentence with reprieve and life imprisonment since the enactment of the *Criminal Law Amendment (IX)* in November 2015. Besides him and the previously mentioned Fan Yifei, Sun Deshun, and He Zehua, others include former Yunnan Provincial Party Secretary Bai Enpei (who took bribes totaling 240 million yuan plus substantial unexplained assets); former Tianjin Public Security Bureau Chief and Vice Chairman of the Tianjin Municipal CPPCC Wu Changshun (who embezzled over 342 million yuan, took bribes exceeding 84.4 million yuan, misappropriated over 101 million yuan of public funds, and personally or directed others to bribe companies with 10.57 million yuan); former Inner Mongolia Party Committee member and Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee Xing Yun (bribery amounting to 449 million yuan); former Shaanxi Party Secretary Zhao Zhengyong (bribery totaling 717 million yuan); former General Manager of China Huadian Corporation Yun Gongmin (bribery totaling 468.66 million yuan); former Minister of Justice Fu Zhenghua (bribery totaling 117 million yuan); former Jiangsu Party Committee member and Secretary of the Provincial Political and Legal Committee Wang Like (bribery totaling 440 million yuan, bribe-giving totaling 97.31 million yuan); former Vice Minister of Public Security Sun Lijun (bribery totaling 646 million yuan); former Liaoning Vice Governor Liu Guoqiang (bribery totaling 352 million yuan); former Liaoning Public Security Bureau Chief and Vice Chairman of the Liaoning CPPCC Li Wenxi (bribery totaling 546 million yuan); former Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Head of the National Security Department Liu Yanping (bribery totaling 234 million yuan); former Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of China Life Insurance Group Wang Bin (bribery totaling 325 million yuan); former Vice Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission Cai Esheng (bribery totaling 409 million yuan); and former Vice Governor and Provincial Public Security Bureau Chief of Liaoning Wang Dawei (bribery totaling 555 million yuan).
To reiterate, this number of 18 refers only to central-level officials sentenced to death with a reprieve and life imprisonment. In other words, those qualified to "spend the rest of their lives in Qin Cheng Prison." However, this number of 18 is likely to be exceeded soon. Just three days after Sun Zhigang’s sentencing, two additional central officials with bribery amounts exceeding 200 million yuan each went to trial. On October 31, the Xiangyang Intermediate Court in Hubei held the first hearing in the case of Jiangsu Provincial People's Congress Deputy Director Liu Handong, charged with bribery, abuse of power, and illegal land transfer. Liu is accused of taking more than 245 million yuan in bribes over 25 years.
Given the accusation in court that his actions "caused severe harm to public property and national and public interests, with particularly severe circumstances," Liu Handong may face a death sentence with life imprisonment, rather than merely a death sentence with reprieve.
On November 1, Luo Yulin, a deputy ministerial-level official of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, went on trial in Qingdao Intermediate Court in Shandong, facing bribery and insider trading charges. Luo is accused of accepting over 220 million yuan in bribes.
The prosecution alleges that from 1997 to 2023, Luo leveraged his roles as Director of Qinghai’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Party Secretary and Director of the former Qinghai Provincial Economic and Trade Commission, Secretary and Director of the Qinghai Economic Committee, Provincial Government Party Leadership Group Member, Vice Governor, Standing Committee Member, Deputy Party Secretary of the Provincial Government, and Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Major State-Owned Enterprises of the State Council to offer assistance to entities and individuals in company operations, project contracting, job transfers, and other matters, receiving a total of more than 220 million yuan.
Previously, the CCDI (Central Commission for Discipline Inspection) used unusually severe language in its notice removing Luo from his Party membership and government position, stating that his actions "constituted serious violations of duty and alleged bribery crimes, and continued unabated after the 18th National Congress, with severe nature and negative impact, warranting stern punishment." Therefore, while Luo’s best outcome may be a death sentence with reprieve, a final sentence of death with reprieve and life imprisonment is highly likely, as even among the 18 previously sentenced individuals, some received lesser amounts in bribes than Luo.
I noticed that in Caixin’s report on Luo’s first trial, the article emphasized to readers that Luo was appointed as Director of Qinghai’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission in June 1996, implicating that his alleged criminal activities spanned 27 years, with 19 of those years in Qinghai.
Why emphasize this? Because, as insiders know, at that time, Zhao Leji, now a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and Chairman of the National People's Congress, was Vice Governor of Qinghai, overseeing economic matters and Luo’s superior.
Returning to Sun Zhigang’s case, on the day of his first trial sentencing with death and life imprisonment, the Chinese-language Sing Tao Daily described CCTV footage under the headline "Former Guizhou Secretary Sun Zhigang Calmly Accepts Death Sentence for Bribery of 813 Million Yuan," noting, "Dressed in a dark Zhongshan suit, Sun Zhigang walked steadily into court and sat in the defendant’s seat, maintaining the demeanor of a former local lord, appearing calm."
Indeed, after years of following CCTV’s portrayal of corrupt officials, Sun Zhigang stood out as the calmest and most composed, comparable only to Bo Xilai, who dared to contest his charges in court. In contrast, the second-most corrupt Party Secretary, Zhao Zhengyong, famously declared his acceptance of the court’s judgment without appeal, likely to be scorned by his fellow inmates in Qin Cheng Prison.
A comparison of the judgments of Zhao Zhengyong and Sun Zhigang reveals a significant difference: Zhao Zhengyong’s “illegal assets were entirely seized, frozen, or confiscated,” while Sun Zhigang’s verdict stated, “The seized assets from Sun Zhigang’s bribery and related gains shall be confiscated and handed over to the state treasury, and any deficiency shall continue to be recovered.”
Notably, even before Zhao’s first trial, the CCDI had proudly announced that "all seized funds and items from the Zhao Zhengyong case have been accounted for, and any sealed assets or frozen company shares will be disposed of per the judicial ruling." My first reaction was similar to a previous commentary on the CCDI website: "These top-level corrupt officials essentially acted as property custodians; what’s the point?"
While it is unknown how much of Sun Zhigang’s over 800 million yuan in bribes remains for “continued recovery,” considering that he is set to “spend the rest of his life behind bars,” it is unlikely he or his family will cooperate with this “continued recovery.” Perhaps this explains his calm demeanor in court — "At least he’s come out ahead in some way."
Unlike Sun, who managed to “stash away” a portion of his illegal assets for his family, Zhao Zhengyong’s thorough admission of guilt makes him look rather foolish.
It’s also worth noting that even Lai Xiaomin’s first trial verdict included “continued recovery of any deficient amount” despite him being executed. How, then, can the state continue to recover assets from a man whose life it has already taken?
(Adapted from Radio Free Asia)
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