Former senior executive of China's state-owned enterprise handed death sentence with reprieve for bribery

SHIJIAZHUANG, July 21 (Xinhua) -- He Wenzhong, a former deputy general manager of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, was sentenced on Monday to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting a large amount of bribes.

He was also stripped of his political rights for life, with all of his personal property confiscated, according to the verdict issued by the intermediate people's court of Zhangjiakou City in Hebei Province.

The court stated that between 2006 and 2023, He took advantage of his various positions at the state-owned enterprise to offer assistance to others in matters related to product supplies and loan obtainment. He accepted money and valuables in return and took kickbacks, which totaled 289 million yuan (about 40 million U.S. dollars).

The court decided that He's offenses had caused particularly serious losses to the interests of the state and the people, yet he was given a lenient sentence due to several mitigating factors, including his confession and remorse, and proactive return of his ill-gotten gains.

The case was heard at the court on April 11. At the trial, prosecutors, the defendant and his defense counsel cross-examined the evidence and gave their respective accounts. He pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his final statement.