Ex-officials jailed for deaths at care center

Li Cuiqiong, former director of the civil affairs bureau of Xinfeng county, Guangdong province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on Monday for her role in running a care center in which people were abused or died.

Li was found guilty of intentional injury, abuse of people under care and abuse of power.

Pan Zhongai, another official with the bureau who helped establish the private Lianxi care center with Li and others, was sentenced to life imprisonment, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Pan was also charged with intentional injury, abuse of people under care and abuse of power.

Eighteen other people involved in the case received jail terms.

The verdicts were handed down by courts in Shaoguan and in Guangdong's Lechang and Renhua counties.

The center was illegally established and operated, the Shaoguan court said. It characterized the case as odious.

The case came to light in February last year after the death of Lei Wenfeng, a 15-year-old autistic boy from Shenzhen, Guangdong, who became lost and stayed for more than a month at the center in Shaoguan's Xinfeng county before he died in December 2016.

The privately operated center cared for people of all ages. Several deaths of people being cared for have been reported, although no exact numbers were released.

Lai Zhanfeng, former deputy county chief, received an eight-year jail term after being found guilty of dereliction of duty and taking bribes. Lai and six other defendants failed to carry out their supervisory duties, leading to the care center operating illegally for a long time, according to a news release.

Zheng Zhentao－former Party secretary and mayor of Shaoguan and former leader of the inspection team assigned by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection to the National Audit Office－received a severe warning from the Party for failing in his leadership responsibility, according to the CCDI and the National Supervisory Commission.

Deng Haiguang, who was deputy governor of Guangdong when the autistic boy died, also received disciplinary punishment within the Party.

A total of 107 other government officials, including Liu Hong, former director of the Guangdong provincial civil affairs department, and Chen Jinghui, former Party secretary of Xinfeng county, received Party and administrative punishments.

After the case came to light, Guangdong authorities checked private care centers across the province, amended the regulation on the management of private social welfare institutions in Guangdong and issued a Guangdong social assistance ordinance.