Death penalty for ‘godfather’ of Chinese coal mining town over US$160 million in bribes
Zhang Zhongsheng showed ‘extreme greed’ and was handed most severe punishment for ‘big losses he caused to the nation and the people’, court rules
A former vice-mayor of a poverty-stricken city in the coal-rich province of Shanxi was on Wednesday sentenced to death, without reprieve, for accepting over one billion yuan in bribes (US$160 million).
The sentencing of Zhang Zhongsheng – known for his splendid hilltop mansions and dubbed the “godfather” because of his influence and power in the city of Luliang – was an unusually harsh punishment for economic crimes, even since President Xi Jinping took power in 2012 and started an unprecedented crackdown on corruption.
Zhang can still appeal the sentence handed down by the Intermediate People’s Court of Linfen, and the death penalty must be approved by the supreme court in Beijing.
In sentencing, the court said Zhang had shown “extreme” greed in taking bribes, according to Xinhua.
Shanxi, in the north, was targeted by Xi’s anti-graft campaign in 2013, described as one of the country’s “disaster zones” that was suffering from a “landslide of corruption” among local officials, leading to a flurry of arrests of its political and business elite.
Zhang, 65, a short, bullish man, worked in local government for about 40 years before he came under investigation by the party’s graft-busters in 2014.