Former SOE executive sentenced to death for huge graft

GUANGZHOU - A former executive of a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in south China's Guangdong Province was sentenced to death on Wednesday on charges of bribery and embezzlement amounting to nearly 400 million yuan (65 million US dollars).

The suspect, Zhang Xinhua, 52, was the general manager of the state-owned Baiyun Industrial and Agricultural Corporation in Guangzhou City. In addition to the death sentence, he also got all personal assets confiscated, according to the intermediate people's court of Guangzhou.

The court's investigation shows from June 1998 to May 2013, Zhang took 56.8 million yuan and 7.3 million Hong Kong dollars in bribes by offering helps to institutions and individuals who bought land from Baiyun or collaborated with Baiyun in real estate development.

After 2003, Zhang registered two companies without the consent of his superiors, and transferred property and land owned by Baiyun to the two companies by illegal means such as fabricating debts, underrating assets, and fraud litigation. It is evaluated that he embezzled more than 280 million yuan of public assets through these means.

The court also found that in 2010 and 2011, Zhang received 35.29 million HK dollars and 4.5 million yuan in bribes in exchange for favors in debt restructuring and land deals involving one of the two companies mentioned above and a company in Jiangmen city, Guangdong Province.

Zhang lodged an appeal at the trial.