Corrupt Chinese ‘king’ who took US$10 million in bribes jailed for 12 years
- Former party boss of Gansu province Wang Sanyun was known by many nicknames
- Internet users dubbed him ‘Gold Watch Man’ after noticing his luxury timepieces
A former Chinese senior official who accepted more than 66 million yuan (US$9.8 million) in bribes has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 4 million yuan.
Handing down its verdict on Thursday, the Zhengzhou Intermediate People’s Court said Wang Sanyun – ex-Communist Party chief of northwest China’s Gansu province – had taken advantage of his position to receive a “huge amount” of bribes.
Once dubbed the “King of Gansu”, Wang spent the last six years of a career spanning more than two decades as head of the province.
The court said in a statement that it had been lenient in its sentencing as Wang had “confessed to his crimes, provided clues to other major cases and returned all of his ill-gotten gains”.
It did not say if Wang would appeal, nor did it immediately respond to email and telephone inquiries on the issue.
During an initial hearing into Wang’s case in October – which was broadcast on state television – he was accused of taking bribes from Ye Jianming, the former head of CEFC China Energy, who disappeared from public view in March last year. However, the court statement issued on Thursday made no mention of Ye.
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Another matter discussed at the first hearing but not mentioned in the sentencing statement was Wang’s alleged role in helping CEFC’s Shanghai subsidiary to buy an equity stake in Bank of Hainan.
The court did, however, refer to evidence presented at the first hearing that Wang had helped CEFC’s Hainan subsidiary to obtain a US$4.8 billion credit line via Hu Huaibang, the former chairman of China Development Bank who retired in September.
As well as his regal moniker, Wang attracted several other nicknames during his time as a party chief. In 2013, internet users dubbed him “Poker Face” after he appeared on television looking glum beside Chinese President Xi Jinping during the leader’s visit to Gansu.
Viewers noticed that as Xi smiled at and shook hands with an elderly farmer during a visit to a local village, Wang remained stony faced.
Later the same year the now disgraced official earned the sobriquet “Gold Watch Man” after internet users began sharing images of him sporting various luxury timepieces.
Wang’s downfall takes the number of provincial party chiefs and governors toppled since 2012 – when Xi announced his anti-corruption campaign at the National Party Congress in Beijing – to nine.
Of those, only Wei Hong, the former governor of southwest China’s Sichuan province, who was demoted to a deputy position, avoided prosecution.
Four other former party chiefs – Sun Zhengcai of Chongqing, Su Rong (Jiangxi), Wang Min (Liaoning) and Bai Enpei (Yunnan) were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Huang Xingguo, the former acting secretary of Tianjin province, was given a 12-year sentence for corruption, while ex-Hebei party chief Zhou Benshun and former Fujian governor Su Shuli were jailed for 15 and 16 years, respectively.
Ho was found guilty on five counts of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of money laundering over oil rights for CEFC China Energy in Chad and Uganda.
