A former senior city official in eastern China has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of accepting more than 2.2 billion yuan (US$325 million) in bribes over a period spanning three decades.
Yang Youlin, 69, who held various government positions in Nanjing between 1993 and 2023, was also convicted of embezzlement, abuse of power and money laundering in one of China’s biggest corruption cases in recent years.
According to Chinese state media, Yang used his official positions 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 court ruled that Yang’s crimes were “extremely serious” and caused exceptionally heavy losses to the interests of both the state and the public, leading to the country’s toughest criminal punishment.
Yang’s prosecution forms part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, which has targeted senior officials across the military, banking sector and government agencies since he took office.
Although China has intensified its anti-graft drive over the past decade, death sentences for corruption-related offences remain relatively rare and are generally reserved for cases involving exceptionally large amounts of money, typically exceeding one billion yuan.
Among the most notable cases was former financial executive Lai Xiaomin, who was executed in 2021 after accepting 1.8 billion yuan in bribes over 10 years. In 2024, former Inner Mongolia official Li Jianping was also executed after being convicted of embezzlement and bribery involving more than 3 billion yuan.
Many other corruption offenders in China receive lengthy prison terms or suspended death sentences, which are often commuted to life imprisonment after a specified period. Courts have also reduced sentences for some convicted individuals who cooperated with investigators by exposing other offenders.
While Yang reportedly pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and assisted investigators, the court ruled that the seriousness of his crimes outweighed any mitigating factors, making him ineligible for a lighter sentence.
