Two former soccer officials sentenced, fined for various crimes

Courts in Central China's Hubei province announced the verdicts on two former soccer officials for various crimes, including bribery, on Tuesday.

Huang Song, a former head of the competition department of the Chinese Football Association, was sentenced to seven years and fined 600,000 yuan ($84,100) for accepting bribes.

The People's Court of Songzi, Hubei province, also ordered the confiscation of the illicit gains and the transfer of those assets to the state treasury.

Huang came under investigation in March 2023 and his case was transferred to the procuratorial authorities for prosecution in September last year. His trial was held publicly in March of this year.

In another case, the People's Court of Tongcheng County, Hubei, announced its first-instance verdict on Gu Jianming, a former chairman of the Chengdu Football Association in Sichuan province and a former member of the Chinese Football Association executive committee, for corruption, bribery, and offering bribes by an entity.

Gu was sentenced to three years and six months for corruption, with a fine of 200,000 yuan; two years and six months in prison for accepting bribes, with a fine of 100,000 yuan; and two years and six months in prison for the crime of entity bribes, with a fine of 100,000 yuan.

According to China's Criminal Law, if an entity offers bribes or kickbacks to a state functionary for illicit benefits, the entity shall be fined, and the directly responsible persons in charge and other directly responsible persons shall receive fixed-term imprisonment.

The court decided to impose a total sentence of six years and a fine of 400,000 yuan on Gu. The court also ordered the confiscation of the illicit gains made from his corruption, which will be returned to the victimized units, and the confiscation of the illicit gains from bribery, which will be transferred to the state treasury.