Former Zhejiang official receives sentencing in bribery case

Zhou Jiangyong, former Party chief of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking bribes amounting to 182 million yuan ($25.5 million), according to a verdict issued by the Chuzhou Intermediate People's Court in Anhui province on Tuesday.

The court also deprived Zhou of his political rights and confiscated all his personal property. His stolen money and proceeds will be handed over to the State treasury.

Zhou took advantage of his former positions, including as Party chief of the cities of Zhoushan, Wenzhou and Hangzhou in Zhejiang, to offer assistance to certain companies and individuals in engineering construction, obtaining projects and land and handling cases.

In return, directly or through relatives, he accepted money and property equivalent to about 182 million yuan.

Zhou's actions constituted the crime of taking bribes and caused heavy losses to the State and the people, thus he should be severely punished, the court said.

Zhou truthfully confessed his crimes, including some facts investigators did not know, and actively returned the stolen goods in line with the discretionary circumstances of imposing lenient punishment, so the court rendered the judgment.

The first trial of Zhou was held in April, and he pleaded guilty and made a final statement in court.

The 56-year-old, a native of Zhejiang's Ningbo, began working in 1985 and joined the Party in 1992. He served as Party chief in Zhoushan from 2015, in Wenzhou from 2017 and in Hangzhou from May 2018.

Zhou was placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law in August 2021.