Former top Chinese anti-graft inspector gets suspended death sentence for corruption

Dong Hong took about US$73 million in bribes over two decades, court says
Verdict the latest in a string of corruption cases decided in recent weeks

Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign

Guo Rui

Published: 7:00am, 29 Jan 2022

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A former senior inspector of China’s top anti-corruption agency has been given a suspended death sentence for taking 463 million yuan (US$72.9 million) in bribes.

Dong Hong, who was until 2018 a deputy leader of the central inspection team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – the Communist Party’s top anti-corruption watchdog – pleaded guilty in court, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Friday.

The Qingdao Intermediate People’s Court in eastern Shandong province said Dong was granted a suspended sentence because had surrendered himself and volunteered details of his crimes. The court also ordered confiscation of all of his property.

In China, a suspended death sentence usually means that the sentence will be commuted to life in prison two years after conviction.

According to the court’s verdict, Dong took huge bribes from as early as 1999 until his stint as a deputy director of the CCDI inspection team.

In 1999, Dong was secretary to Wang Qishan, who was then a vice-governor of the southern province of Guangdong and played a key role in resolving the bankruptcy of a number of state firms, including Guangdong International Trust and Investment. Wang, now 73, is the Chinese vice-president.

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The court verdict said Dong accepted cash and property worth 463 million yuan until he came under investigation in 2020. He was expelled from the party in April for “serious violations of the law and party discipline”, a euphemism for corruption.

Dong is the second senior official to be given a suspended death sentence this month. Wang Fuyu, former deputy party chief of Guizhou province, was handed the same sentence about a fortnight ago for taking 450 million yuan in bribes.

Other major corruption cases announced in recent weeks include that of Zhou Jianyong, the former party chief of Hangzhou in Zhejiang who took huge amounts of bribes and “abetted the disorderly expansion of capital” – an apparent reference to crimes in the capital market.

The CCDI also announced that He Xingxiang, a former vice-president of China Development Bank, was expelled from the party for “serious” law violations including the misuse of financial approval rights, resulting in huge financial loses for the state.

On Tuesday last week, President Xi Jinping told cadres of the top disciplinary watchdog to take a “zero tolerance” approach to corruption and the battle against graft would be a long-term task.