Beijing, China. In contrast to the US where corruption may land you a few years in prison or Ukraine-where it will get you elected President, in China, it will get you life in prison or simply shot dead.
In China a court on Wednesday jailed for life the former head of the statistics bureau after finding him guilty of corruption, the latest official to be brought down in President Xi Jinping’s war on Chinese corruption in government and society.
The court in the city of Zhangjiakou found Wang Baoan had illegally accepted the equivalent of more than $22.5 million in cash and other valuables, it said in a statement online about the case.
Recently Wang was deputy finance minister for the Chinese government from 2012 until April 2015, when he took up the post of statistics bureau chief.
All of Wang’s crimes took place between 1994 and 2016, when he held a variety of other jobs, including in the finance ministry, the court said. Wang confessed and repented, meaning he has been given a lighter sentence, it added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has conducted a sweeping campaign to root out deeply ingrained corruption, warning that the problem is so bad it could affect the ruling Communist Party’s grip on power.
By contrast with regional news of interest, Ukraine has still not set up a functional corruption court as EU IMF officials threaten to kill a $16 billion dollar tranche of funding that is dependent upon corruption enforcement and pension & land reforms promised by PM Groysman but not delivered.