Corruption fight targets two ex-executives of leading enterprises

China's anti-corruption drive continues with former heads of two leading enterprises falling from grace on Friday.

In Guizhou province, Gao Weidong, former chairman of China's leading liquor brand Kweichow Moutai, was sentenced to life in prison for accepting bribes of more than 110 million yuan ($15 million).

All of Gao's personal assets were confiscated, and his illicit gains were ordered to be turned over to the State treasury, according to the ruling announced by the Liupanshui Intermediate People's Court in Guizhou on Friday.

The court found that from 1999 to 2022, Gao made use of his various work posts in Guizhou — such as deputy mayor of the provincial capital Guiyang, head of the provincial transport bureau and chairman of Kweichow Moutai — to help individuals and departments in areas such as business operations, project contracting, land development and product purchases.

In return, Gao, directly or through others, was offered bribes amounting to more than 110 million yuan, the court added.

It ruled that Gao's behavior constitutes the crime of bribery, noting that the sum of the bribes he received was "extremely large".

"Given that some attempts to bribe him were not successful, and he truthfully confessed to his crimes and voluntarily disclosed most of the bribes that investigators had not been aware of before his apprehension, we leniently punished him," it said.

Gao told the court that he accepted the result and will not appeal to a higher court.

The 51-year-old native of Henan province was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation in May 2022. In February last year, he was indicted for bribery.

As Gao was being placed behind bars, Wang Yilin, former chairman of China National Petroleum Corp — the country's largest oil and gas producer in terms of output — was said to be under investigation on suspicion of severely violating Party discipline and national laws.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission — the country's top anti-corruption watchdog — announced the probe of Wang via an online notice on Friday.

Prior to the investigation, Wang, 67, from Jiangsu province, had worked in China's oil and gas sector for more than two decades.