A former Chinese deputy public security minister accused of leading a criminal group made up of government officials was sentenced to death on Friday, suspended for two years, Chinese state television CCTV reported.
Sun Lijun was convicted of stock market manipulation, taking bribes and other crimes, the same source said.
Since assuming the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, Xi has launched a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign that has resulted in the punishment of senior Party officials, leaders of companies and public organizations, or senior military officers.
The sentence comes on the eve of the 20th Communist Party Congress, which is expected to give Xi Jinping a third five-year term as general secretary, breaking with the political tradition of recent decades in the country.
Sun was sentenced by the court in the northeastern city of Changchun for receiving a total of 646 million yuan (about 92 million euros) in bribes. The former deputy minister was accused of using his position in 2018 to manipulate stock trading. He was also accused of receiving bribes to assign positions in his ministry.
Sun will be sentenced to life in prison without parole if his sentence is commuted.
A former justice minister and a former Communist Party official, accused of conspiring with Sun, received similar sentences on Thursday.
Former minister Fu Zhenghua pleaded guilty to taking bribes to help conceal criminal activities. Earlier reports accused him of belonging to “Sun Lijun’s political group”.
Party official Wang Like was accused of receiving 440 million yuan (about 63 million euros) in bribes. He was also accused of offering 97 million yuan (15 million euros) in bribes to Sun and other officials.
The ruling party’s anti-corruption agency last year accused Sun of having “extremely inflated political ambition.” The agency said that she engaged in “superstitious activities.”
Sun was previously named in a US Justice Department lawsuit against Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn.
The process was aimed at forcing Wynn to register as a foreign agent, due to his participation in influence actions promoted by the Chinese government.
The suit says top officials, including Sun, asked Wynn for help in getting the United States to deny a Chinese national’s visa application, according to the complaint. Beijing wanted the man, accused of corruption and a political asylum seeker, to return to China.
Source: TSF
