Death sentence for a former Chinese minister, accused of taking bribes of tens of millions of euros
Tang Renjian, former Minister of Photo Agriculture: Li Xin / Xinhua News / Profimedia
Former Chinese Minister of Agriculture Tang Renjian was sentenced to death for corruption, with a two-year suspension of execution, a decision taken by a court in northeast of China, informs AFP.
Tang received briefs in money and goods reaching more than 268 million Yuan (32 million euros) between 2007 and 2024, a statement from the Changchun People's Court, from Jilin province, shows.
These bribes “caused a very serious damage to the interests of the state and the people and justify the death penalty”, it is said in the statement in which it states that the accused acknowledged his “crimes” and expressed remorse.
This conviction is the last of a vast campaign against corruption started by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who led to the dismissal of several high-ranking personalities.
The supporters of this campaign say that it favors an irreproachable governance, but the detractors claim that they give the president the power to remove their political rivals.
Before being Minister of Agriculture (2020-2024), Tang was governor of the province of Gansu (northwest) and vice-president of the Autonomous Guangxi (South) region.
His disgrace comes after similar corruption investigations that targeted the former Ministers of Defense Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe.
Li was dismissed from office after only seven months after taking over, then excluded from the Chinese Communist Party for crimes, especially corruption suspicions.
His successor, Dong Jun, the current Minister of Defense, was also investigated in a corruption investigation.
