China Communist Party critic Ren Zhiqiang gets 18 years for corruption

Name: Communist Party investigating Ren Zhiqiang, outspoken critic of China’s coronavirus response
Uploaded: 2020-09-22T05:11:23.000Z
Duration: 1 min 5 s
Description: Communist Party investigating Ren Zhiqiang, outspoken critic of China’s coronavirus response

Outspoken real estate tycoon known as ‘Big Cannon Ren’ embezzled US$7.3 million, court finds

Confession and plea for leniency taken into account when passing sentence, according to judgment summary

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Chinese real estate mogul Ren Zhiqiang has been ordered to serve 18 years in prison. Photo: AP

William Zheng

Published: 1:11pm, 22 Sep 2020Updated: 11:27pm, 22 Sep 2020

A Chinese real estate tycoon, who has been a vocal critic of the Communist Party leadership, was sentenced to 18 years in prison on corruption charges and fined 4.2 million yuan (US$620,000) on Tuesday.

Ren Zhiqiang, 69, said he would not appeal, according to a statement released by Beijing No 2 Intermediate People’s Court, which found that the property developer had taken advantage of his position to embezzle more than 49.74 million yuan in public funds between 2003 and 2017.

The court also found that, over the same period, Ren had “accepted bribes worth more than 1.25 million yuan; misappropriated 61.20 million yuan of public funds, and abused his power [as a state employee] causing 116.7 million yuan in heavy losses to state-owned companies” for a personal gain of more than 19.41 million yuan.

“[Ren] has voluntarily confessed his crimes, admitted to all the accusations against him as presented [in court], and voluntarily accepted the court’s judgment,” the court said, adding that his plea for leniency had been taken into account in sentencing.

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Communist Party investigating Ren Zhiqiang, outspoken critic of China’s coronavirus response

Ren grew up in a revolutionary family and was a member of the Communist Party but his outspoken criticism of the party’s leadership earned him the nickname “Ren the Big Cannon”. He was slammed by state media in 2016 for “pursuing Western constitutionalism”.