Chinese court hands former local official rare death sentence in $324 million graft case
The court said Yang took more than 2.2 billion yuan in bribes and caused major losses, making this one of China’s largest corruption cases.
- On Monday, the Changzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yang Youlin, the 69-year-old former executive deputy director of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, to death for bribery, embezzlement, and money laundering.
- Yang illegally accepted over 2.21 billion yuan from 1993 to 2023 in exchange for help with "undertaking projects, business operations, land transfers and capital turnover."
- The court deemed the bribery amount "especially huge" and circumstances "especially serious," ruling that Yang's statement expressing "guilt and remorse" was insufficient to warrant leniency given the harm caused to society.
- Amid President Xi Jinping's years-long anti-corruption campaign, nearly 5 million officials have been investigated and found guilty since 2012, according to a March 2025 U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence report.
- While executions for graft remain rare, they have been applied in cases exceeding 1 billion yuan, including the 2021 execution of Lai Xiaomin, former board chairman of China Huarong Asset Management.
72 Articles
72 Articles
China Sentences Former Official To Death Over $325 Million Bribery Scandal
China has sentenced former economic development official Yang Youlin to death after he was found guilty of taking bribes worth around £240 million over a period of three decades. Yang, who previously worked in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing, was also convicted of embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, offering bribes, abusing his government office and money laundering. The case has become one of the most high-profile corruption pro…
Yang Youlin, a municipal official in Nanjing, accepted bribes over 30 years. He was sentenced to death for embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering.
Yang Youlin, a former economic development official in Nanjing, China, was sentenced to death for accepting $325 million in bribes over a 30-year period. The verdict is considered one of the most striking cases in the anti-corruption campaign launched under President Xi Jinping.
Another Chinese official sentenced to death for corruption
A Chinese court has sentenced a former public official, Yang Youlin, to death for bribery, offering bribes, embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power, and money laundering. The former executive deputy director of the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee is also expected to pay millions of yuan in fines. The Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court found that Youlin illegally accepted money an…
China sentences government official to death over $325 million bribery and embezzlement case
Yang Youlin, a former Nanjing economic development official, was sentenced to death for accepting $325 million in bribes over 30 years. Convicted of embezzlement and money laundering, his case highlights China’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by President Xi Jinping.
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