Ex-discipline regulator gets death sentence with reprieve for bribery

Former senior discipline regulator Wang Huimin was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Tuesday by a court in Sichuan province for accepting bribes worth more than 436 million yuan ($65.4 million).

Wang was also deprived of political rights for life and all his personal assets were confiscated, according to the ruling announced by the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court.

Wang's illicit gains and related proceeds that had been recovered were also ordered to be turned over to the State treasury, the ruling said.

In China, a suspended death penalty will be generally reduced to life imprisonment if criminals have no new offenses during the two-year probation. The sentence can be further cut if the inmates perform well in prison.

In Wang's case, however, the court highlighted that he will face no sentence commutation or parole after the probation, meaning he will spend his rest life behind the bars.

The court found that from 1998 to 2025, Wang abused his positions to seek benefits for departments and individuals in areas including business operations and fundraising, accepting bribes worth more than 436 million yuan in return.

Wang's actions constituted the crime of bribery, the court said. It said he deserved the death penalty because of the "extremely large" amount of bribes he accepted and the "extremely huge" losses he caused to the country and the people.

However, the court said it showed leniency in sentencing because Wang confessed to his crimes, voluntarily disclosed some bribery activities that investigators had not uncovered and returned some illicit gains.

Public records show that Wang, 67, a native of Gansu province, began his career in 1975 and joined the Communist Party of China in 1982. He spent years working in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

He began working at the Xinjiang branch of China Construction Bank in 1984 and became its president in 1998, a position he held until February 2002.

He then served as an assistant to the chairman of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region until January 2012.

He subsequently became vice-chairman of the standing committee of the regional people's congress.

Wang later transferred to the China Securities Regulatory Commission, where he headed its discipline inspection commission before serving as head of the discipline inspection and supervision group stationed at the commission by the country's top anti-corruption authorities. He held the latter post until 2019.

Wang was placed under investigation in March 2025 and expelled from the Party in November.

In April, he was indicted on bribery charges. His case was heard by the court in July, when he pleaded guilty.