Former Nanjing senior official sentenced to death with reprieve

Long Xiang, former director of the Nanjing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for multiple crimes, including acceptance of bribes, embezzlement, abuse of power and insider trading, the Intermediate People's Court of Jingzhou, Hubei province, announced on Tuesday.

The court also ordered Long to be deprived of his political rights for life and confiscated all his personal property.

In a first-instance trial, the court sentenced Long to nine years in prison and fined him 1 million yuan ($148,000) for embezzlement, nine years in prison for abuse of power, and five years in prison and fined him 1 million yuan for insider trading.

The court combined the penalties and imposed the final sentence of death with a two-year reprieve, along with lifelong deprivation of political rights and confiscation of all personal property.

The court ordered the recovery of illicit gains and related proceeds from his bribery offenses and their transfer to the State treasury. Property obtained through his embezzlement offenses will be recovered and returned to the affected entity.

According to the court, between January 2009 and March 2025, Long took advantage of the positions he held, including deputy Party secretary of the Nanjing Commission for Discipline Inspection, director of the city's supervisory bureau, member of the Nanjing municipal Party Committee, secretary of the municipal discipline inspection commission, deputy secretary of the municipal Party Committee, and Party chief and director of the municipal people's congress standing committee, to provide assistance to companies and individuals in matters including project contracting, payment of project funds and handling of cases.

In return, he illegally accepted money and property totaling more than 261 million yuan, the court said.

The court also found that from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2016, while serving as secretary of the Nanjing Commission for Discipline Inspection, Long colluded with others to fraudulently obtain 12 million yuan in fiscal support funds from the Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Between January 2009 and June 2016, while handling leads concerning serious disciplinary and legal violations, Long acted out of personal interests and violated relevant laws and regulations by shielding individuals from investigation. His actions caused major losses to public property and seriously harmed the interests of the State and the people, the court said.

Between November 2017 and January 2018, Long illegally obtained insider information and purchased shares in related companies before the information was made public. The total transaction value exceeded 10.05 million yuan, constituting serious insider trading, the court said.

The court held that Long's actions constituted acceptance of bribes, embezzlement, abuse of power and insider trading. The amount of bribes involved was especially large and caused particularly serious losses to the interests of the State and the people. His embezzlement also involved a particularly large amount, while his abuse of power and insider trading were both serious offenses, warranting punishment in accordance with the law.

The court said it granted Long leniency after taking into account factors including his major meritorious service, confession of his crimes after being investigated, voluntary disclosure of most bribery-related facts previously unknown to investigators and attempted offenses, voluntary disclosure of previously unknown embezzlement facts, guilty plea and remorse, and active efforts to return illicit gains.

All illicit money and property obtained through his bribery and embezzlement offenses have been recovered, the court said.

The court held a public hearing for the case on April 10, 2026.