Briefly

New environmental inspections launched

China's central authorities on Tuesday started a new round of environmental inspections, said the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. Five teams, conducting the first batch of this third round of inspections, have been dispatched to Fujian, Henan, Hainan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces for one-month inspections, according to the ministry. Inspectors will focus on issues such as the implementation of major decisions and deployments of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council on ecological civilization construction.

Official sentenced to 14 years in prison

Zhang Jinghua, former deputy secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for bribery on Tuesday. From 2008 to 2021, Zhang took advantage of his former positions to seek benefits for others and illegally accepted bribes worth more than 49.8 million yuan ($7 million) directly or through others, of which more than 16.7 million yuan was not actually obtained, according to the Wuhan People's Procuratorate in Hubei province. Zhang voluntarily confessed to crimes both known and unknown by the supervisory authorities during investigation, pleaded guilty and showed remorse, and all the proceeds of the crimes have been recovered, thus he could be given lenient punishment, according to the indictment. Zhang was also fined 4 million yuan, and the illegally obtained assets and their interest through bribery were confiscated according to the law and will be turned over to the national treasury.

Xinhua - China Daily