Former senior official sentenced 14 years in prison

Zhang Jinghua, former deputy secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, was sentence to 14 years in prison for bribery on Tuesday.

From 2008 to 2021, Zhang took advantage of his former positions to seek benefits for others and accepted bribes worth more than 49.84 million yuan ($6.99 million) directly or through others, of which more than 16.76 million yuan ($2.35 million) was not actually obtained, according to the the Wuhan Municipal People's Procuratorate in Central China's Hubei province.

Zhang voluntarily confessed to bribery crimes both known and unknown by the supervisory authorities during investigation, pleaded guilty and showed remorse. Given that all the proceeds of the crime have been recovered, a lenient punishment could be given according to law, according to the indictment.

Zhang was also fined 4 million yuan ($0.56 million), and the illegally obtained assets and their interests were confiscated according to the law and will be turned over to the national treasury, according to the indictment.