WASHINGTON — A court in eastern China on Monday imposed a death sentence on a former local official for accepting bribes totaling hundreds of millions of dollars over a three‑decade span.
Yang Youlin, a former economic development official in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, illegally accepted assets and property valued at more than 2.21 billion yuan ($325 million) from 1993 to 2023, according to a statement from the Changzhou Intermediate People’s Court.
Yang came under investigation as part of President Xi Jinping’s decade‑long anti‑corruption campaign, which critics allege has also been used to sideline political rivals.
The bribes were paid in exchange for assistance with project development, business operations, land allocations, and securing working capital, the court noted.
Yang was additionally convicted of embezzlement, bribe‑giving, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of authority, and money laundering, marking one of the most substantial corruption cases in recent years.
Yang delivered a final statement in court expressing guilt and remorse, the court noted. Court‑released photographs show the gray‑haired Yang in a dark jacket, standing between two uniformed police officers.
Public hearings for the case were conducted on two separate occasions in March and April, with more than 30 attendees, the court said.
The court statement indicated that Yang’s personal property would be confiscated and that authorities would seek to recover the full amount of bribes received.
Yang became the latest official to receive a death sentence for corruption in recent years.
In 2021, Lai Xiaomin, a former party secretary of a state‑owned enterprise, was sentenced to death and executed for accepting bribes, embezzlement, and bigamy. In 2024, Li Jianping, a local official in Inner Mongolia, was executed after being found guilty of embezzlement and bribery.
