Former grain official sentenced for bribery

Xu Ming, former deputy head of the then-State Administration of Grain, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery by a court in Fujian province on Tuesday.

Along with a sentence of 14 years for bribery, Xu was also given a two-year prison term for using his influence to take bribes after leaving his posts, according to the Intermediate People's Court of Xiamen.

The court decided to give Xu a cumulative 15 years of imprisonment with a fine of 4.1 million yuan ($571,253), adding his illicit gains have also been turned over to the national treasury.

From 1995 to 2021, Xu took advantage of his positions, including posts at the Ministry of Commerce, the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the then-State Administration of Grain to seek benefits for others in matters such as project contracting, business approval, legal case handling and job promotion. In return, Xu accepted money and valuables worth 51.2 million yuan, according to the court.

When Xu was placed under investigation, 8.9 million yuan of the bribes had not yet been given to him, the court said.

After leaving his posts in Chongqing, Xu also used his influence to continue seeking benefits for others and accepting 1.2 million yuan in exchange.

Xu's behaviors constituted the crimes of bribery and using influence to take bribes in line with the Criminal Law, and the amount of bribes he accepted was "extremely large", the court said. "But considering Xu didn't actually obtain some of the bribes, confessed to the offenses, voluntarily shared many facts unknown to investigators and returned his illicit gains, we leniently punished him."

Xu, 65, a native of Anhui province, started work in December 1975 and joined the Party in December 1977.

He served as deputy head of the then-State Administration of Grain from March 2013 to March 2018. Before that, he worked in Chongqing.

He was investigated by the country's anti-corruption watchdog for suspected serious violations of discipline and law in July 2021. In January 2022, he was removed as a Party member and dismissed from office. Earlier this year, the Xiamen court publicly heard the case.

The State Administration of Grain was combined with others to become the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration in 2018 after an institutional reform.