Former SOE boss given death sentence

Zhang Xinhua is led into Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, Wednesday.[Photo/weibo.com/nfrb]

A former general manager of a state-owned enterprise in South China's Guangdong province was sentenced to death for embezzlement and accepting bribes, in the province's biggest graft case.

Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court found Zhang Xinhua, 52, guilty of misappropriation and taking bribes worth 340 million yuan (about $55 million) between June 1998 and May 2013, when he was manager of the Baiyun Industrial and Agricultural Corporation.

Wednesday's verdict also deprived him of political rights for life and the confiscation of his personal assets.

Zhang said he will appeal, seeking a lenient punishment.

The case began on Oct 21 when he was charged with taking bribes of 97.8 million yuan (about $1.6 million) and 2.38 million Hong Kong dollars (about $0.3 million).

It was alleged that he embezzled property and land belonging to the Baiyun Industrial and Agricultural Corporation during his tenure by fabricating debts and underrating assets.

Zhang was put under criminal detention on Sept 16 and arrested by Guangdong Provincial Procuratorate on Sept 30.

A draft amendment to China's Criminal Law was submitted on Oct 27 to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for a first reading, made revision to some anti-graft articles, including embezzlement and bribery.

This draft mulls scrapping the death penalty for nine crimes following the last draft which had abolished the punishment for 13 crimes.

There is an overwhelming support for death penalty in corruption cases in China, according to an online survey conducted by Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily on Nov 4.

It claims that 73.2 percent of 2,105 respondents think that the death sentence should continue to be applied in graft cases.