Society

Corrupt funeral home chief gets 11 years in jail

By Zheng Caixiong and Mo Xuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-14 08:18

GUANGZHOU: The Intermediate People's Court here yesterday upheld a district court verdict to sentence a funeral home chief to 11 years behind bars for corruption.

Zeng Zhuonan, 60, former director of the Panyu district funeral home, was also ordered to handover 700,000 yuan ($102,467) of his illegally acquired income valued at more than 1 million yuan. The court also confiscated Zeng's property and assets worth 100,000 yuan.

Zeng was found guilty of accepting bribes worth 857,800 yuan from suppliers of products used in funerals and embezzling another 428,600 yuan of public funds with his accomplices between 2005 and 2009.

Zeng took bribes amounting to 583,000 yuan from a coffin manufacturing company in Sihui to encourage the bereaved to use their product. Flower sellers, too, bribed Zeng, according to court documents.

Zeng was also found guilty of conniving with his deputy Deng Guishen, accountant Fu Ming and cashier Kong Lizhen to set up their own exchequer for embezzling and misappropriating public funds between 2006 and 2009.

The court said it was only being lenient with the sentencing because Zeng showed remorse for his actions.

He surrendered to the police last March and handed over 260,000 yuan he had accepted in bribes.

Ye Qing, a lawyer from the Guangzhou-based Trust Law Firm, said the punishment was "reasonable and fair".

"A person who accepts bribes of more than 100,000 yuan can be sentenced to life in prison," Ye said.

"But the punishment is harsh enough to deter other officials from committing similar crimes," he added.

Zhang Qingyuan, a researcher at the law research institute under Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The funeral industry, though in big business, attracts less concern from the public. No one imagines corruption can exist in funerals. But the industry is still monopolized and a safe haven for the corrupt."

He urged the government and media to strengthen supervision on the industry to "prevent or reduce" corruption in the coming years.

In recent years, a number of funeral home bosses have been either sacked or jailed for corruption.

The director of a funeral home in Dengzhou, Henan province, was sentenced to 10 years in prison last October after he was found guilty of accepting 124,500 yuan in bribes from cinerary casket suppliers.

The director of a funeral home in Liling was sentenced to three years in jail with a three-year reprieve for accepting bribes to the tune of 39,000 yuan in October 2008.

Ni Guoxiang, director of a funeral home in the city of Haimen, Jiangsu province, was sentenced to five and a half years behind bars for taking 403,000 yuan in bribes in April 2008.

Yan Shicong, former director of the Chuxiong funeral parlor in Yunnan province was sentenced to three years in jail with a five-year reprieve for accepting bribes worth 97,600 yuan in November 2005.

Han Feng, director of a funeral home in Zigong, Sichuan province, was sentenced to a 15-year jail-term for accepting bribes valued at over 730,000 yuan and misusing public funds worth 530,000 yuan in February 2005.