Former Hubei vice-governor sentenced to life imprisonment

Cao Guangjing, former vice-governor of Central China's Hubei province, was sentenced to life in prison for bribery and leaking information, a court in Jiangsu province announced on Friday.

The Xuzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Cao to life imprisonment for bribery, with deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of all his personal assets.

The court also gave Cao a six-year sentence for leaking information, with a fine of 12 million yuan ($1.66 million).

It eventually combined the punishment of the convictions, sentencing him to life behind the bars, and confiscated all of his personal properties.

Cao's illicit gains and relevant interests have also been ordered to be turned over to national treasuries, it added.

According to the ruling, from 2004 to 2022, Cao made use of his various work posts, including chairman of the China Three Gorges Corporation and vice-governor of Hubei, to seek profits for individuals and departments in matters such as business operation, project contracting and project development, and then accepted bribes of more than 216 million yuan in return.

In January 2021, Cao was found to have leaked confidential information to others, causing the people to buy the shares of listed companies before the inside message was made public. Subsequently, the stock sold for a profit of over 10.42 million yuan, the ruling added.

"Cao's behavior has constituted the crime of bribery and leaking information, and the amount of bribes he accepted was extremely huge and the circumstance of the information leak was extremely serious," the court said.

"Given that some of Cao's bribery attempts were unsuccessful, and he truthfully confessed his crimes and all of his illicit gains, along with the interests we've recovered, we've leniently penalized him," it added.

Cao, 60, a native of Shandong, started his career in August 1985 and joined the Communist Party of China in June 1991.

He worked for the corporation for about three decades, and became the vice-governor of Hubei in 2014.

In February 2022, he was placed under probe for suspected severe violations of the Party disciplines and the law. A month later, he was removed from the public office. In September that year, he was expelled from the Party.

In February 2023, he was indicted on charges of taking bribes and leaking information, and the court in Xuzhou publicly heard the case in October that year.