China's former Justice Minister Tang Yijun was sentenced to life in prison by a Chinese court on Monday for taking bribes, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen, in the southeastern coastal province of Fujian, said Tang had illegally received assets worth over 137 million yuan, or $19.71 million, between 2006 and 2022, and abused his position to secure benefits for entities and individuals in areas such as company listings, land restitution, bank loans and handling court cases, according to CCTV.
"Tang's actions constitute the criminal offense of bribery," the court ruling said, adding that the amounts involved had caused "particularly serious damage" to the interests of the state and the people.
Tang was also banned from involvement in politics for life and all his personal assets were confiscated, CCTV reported.
He was sentenced at a time when President Xi Jinping is continuing a broad anti-corruption campaign, which in recent weeks has included a number of high-ranking officials.
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China gives suspended death sentences to two former defense ministers
The national anti-corruption authority announced over the weekend that it had opened an investigation into Wang Xiangxi, minister of Emergency Management, a rare case of a serving minister being investigated.
Last month, China announced that its top general, Zhang Youxia, had also been placed under investigation.
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