He is suspected of taking bribes, the top anti-graft body said.

最高反腐机构表示，他涉嫌受贿。

Lai Xiaomin, former board chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co, was sentenced to death on Tuesday for taking 1.79 billion yuan ($275 million) in bribes, the Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin said in a statement.

The court said that the amount of the bribes Lai had taken were particularly substantial and had serious repercussions.

He often even took the initiative to ask for bribes, which required a heavier punishment, it said.

Zhang Zhongsheng, the former vice-mayor of Lyuliang, Shanxi province, was sentenced to death in 2018, after being convicted of accepting 1.04 billion yuan in bribes.

Sun Deshun, former president of China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited, has been indicted on a charge of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said Wednesday.

- Lei Sheng, former deputy general manager of Kweichow Moutai Liquor Sales Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese liquor giant Kweichow Moutai, was prosecuted on the charge of taking bribes, according to the Guizhou provincial people's procuratorate Friday.

A former deputy general manager of Sinochem Group, Du Keping,xa0was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison for taking bribes.

Yuan Renguo, former chairman of Kweichow Moutai Group, has been charged with accepting bribes by Guiyang City People's Procuratorate, according to Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) on Friday.

According to the indictment, he took advantage of his job to gain benefits for other enterprises and individuals, then accepted huge bribes either paid in cash or other properties.

He used his job convenience to gain benefits for others, and then accepted their huge bribes either paid in cash or other properties.

Moreover, he abused his power to gain benefits for others and accepted huge bribes either in cash or other gifts.

Ex-official pleads guiltyIn another development, Fu Zhenghua, the former minister of justice, pleaded guilty to taking bribes and abuse of power, during a court hearing held in Changchun, capital of Jilin province, on Thursday.

The procuratorate has charged Cai with various crimes: taking advantage of the power of his office or position to seek gains for others and accepting an especially large amount of bribes in money and valuables in return; seeking illegitimate gains for others through a state functionaries' performance of duties and accepting an especially large amount of bribes in money and valuables in return; practicing favoritism, engaging in falsification, and abuse power in the performance of his duties, which has caused heavy losses to public property, and the interests of the State and the people.

All properties gained from bribes will be handed over to the state treasury.

- Sun Deshun, former president of China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited, has been arrested on the charge of taking bribes, the Shandong Provincial People's Procuratorate announced Wednesday.

Mo pleaded guilty to taking bribes of 42.5 million yuan ($6.3 million), according to the Beijing No 1 Intermediate People's Court.

- Wang Junwen, a fugitive suspected of taking bribes who fled overseas in 2003, returned to China Tuesday to hand himself in to authorities, China's top anti-graft authority announced Wednesday.

Zhang Shaochun, former vice-minister of finance, pleaded guilty to taking bribes valued at 66.98 million yuan ($9.72 million), according to the official WeChat account of the Beijing Supreme People's Court on Dec 14.

The second branch of the Beijing Municipal People's Procuratorate accused Zhang of taking bribes valued at 66.98 million yuan during his tenure as deputy director of the general office of the ministry, assistant minister, deputy secretary of party committee, and vice-minister of finance from 1995 to 2018.

Yao Gang, former vice-chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was on Friday sentenced to 18 years in prison for taking bribes and insider trading.

Between 2006 and 2015, Yao was found to have abused his power and received some 70 million yuan in bribes through his relatives in exchange for holding back the investigation of dodgy deals, the court said.

Yao's criminal responsibility of accepting bribes and insider trading shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

He said that once, about a decade ago, he had been asked for bribes when seeking medical treatment for family members.

Describing such behavior as abhorrent, Zhang said fewer doctors dare to accept bribes nowadays.

In March, Luo Yong, the former president of Tanzhou People's Hospital in Zhongshan, Guangdong province, was placed under investigation on suspicion of accepting bribes and kickbacks totaling almost 30 million yuan ($4.2 million).

A total of 2,306 individuals were prosecuted for offering bribes in the first 11 months of 2023, a year-on-year increase of 18.1 percent, according to the statistics.

Disciplinary authorities will promote institutional reforms in key areas, strengthen the joint investigation of bribe-giving and bribe-taking, and improve the joint punishment mechanism for key bribe givers.

Latest legal amendment takes aim at acts of corruption in greater detail, scopePeople who offer bribes or damage the legitimate interests of private enterprises will face harsher punishment in line with an amended law, in China's latest step in strengthening the fight against corruption.

In Amendment XII to the Criminal Law, which was passed by the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, on Friday, offering bribes repeatedly, to multiple persons or for job promotion, is deemed as a "serious circumstance" that should be given heavier penalties.

"Comparing bribe-givers to sources of pollution, the commission added, "if they are not prohibited, those who accept bribes will continue to exist, so it's necessary to promote the fight against corruption at the root".

"Data released by the Supreme People's Procuratorate in February showed that 78,000 people involved in duty crimes were prosecuted in the past five years, of whom 104 were former officials at or above provincial or ministerial level, and about 14,000 were those who offered bribes.

The amended law, which will take effect on March 1, has intensified the fight against bribe-givers, stating that those offering bribes repeatedly, to multiple people, or parties involved in major national projects should be harshly punished.

People who give bribes to staff members of supervisory, administrative or judicial departments, or bribe in fields such as environment, finance, safety production, drug and food, social insurance, rescue relief, education or healthcare, also need to face severe punishment, the law added.

People who give bribes to staff members of supervisory, administrative or judicial departments can expect severe punishment, according to a draft amendment being reviewed by Chinese lawmakers.

If bribes are used for seeking job promotions or adjustments, the briber will also face harsher punishment, according to a draft amendment to the Criminal Law that was submitted to an ongoing session of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, China's top legislature, on Monday for a second review.

In July, when the draft was read by the NPC Standing Committee for the first time, it clarified several circumstances that merited severe penalties for bribers, such as offering bribes repeatedly, to multiple people, or to parties involved in major national projects.

The NPC's Constitution and Law Committee said on Monday that further specifying the circumstances in the draft amendment aims to fully implement the central leadership's requirements on combating bribers while punishing those who receive bribes.

While focusing on anticorruption in private sector firms, the draft amendment also specified circumstances in which providers of bribes should be severely punished, Zang added.

In addition, the draft will further specify circumstances in which people offering bribes should be harshly penalized, in order to implement the central leadership's requirement on combating both bribe-receivers and bribe-givers, he added.

Li was found to have siphoned bribes valued at more than 79.4 million yuan ($11.29 million) between the second half of 2001 and May in 2022, prosecutors said in court.

The former president of China CITIC Bank Corporation Limited was given a suspended death by a court in Shandong province on Friday for accepting bribes of about 1 billion yuan ($137 million).

From 2003 to 2019, Sun was found to have taken advantage of his positions in the country's banking system, including president of the Bank of Communications Beijing branch as well as vice-president and president of the China CITIC Bank, to assist enterprises in matters such as gaining loan approvals, and then accepted bribes in return, it said.

The amount of the involved bribes exceeded 9.79 billion yuan, it added.

"Sun's behavior has constituted the crime of bribery, with extremely large of bribes, which has brought extremely negative effects to the society and caused huge losses for the interests of the country and the people," the court said.

Guo used to be a traffic police officer in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and is suspected of taking bribes.

A draft amendment to the Criminal Law — mainly concerning penalties for bribe and graft in private firms — will be improved following its first review by national lawmakers, an official from China's top legislature said.

To implement the central leadership's requirements on combating bribery, the draft adds six circumstances that merit severe punishment for bribe-givers, such as offering bribes repeatedly, to multiple people or to state functionaries.

Calling on law enforcement agencies and judicial authorities to focus on cases involving bribery, he suggested that general legal awareness should be strengthened to discourage people from benefiting through the offer of bribes.

China plans to increase the punishment for those who bribe officials by amending the Criminal Law to advance the country's fight against corruption, a senior legislator said.

"Revising the law is meant to meet anti-corruption demands, as well as to implement the central leadership's requirement on strengthening investigations of bribe-givers while dealing with those who accept bribes," Shen Chunyao, head of the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission, said while explaining the draft to lawmakers.

He confirmed that the number of cases involving those who give bribes is much smaller than the figure involving those who accept them, adding that the proportion of bribe-givers who are not held criminally liable is too high.

"The soft punishment is not conducive to cutting off the chain of bribery, so the law needs to be amended by clarifying some serious circumstances of giving bribes," he said.

The draft specifies six situations in which bribe-givers should be severely penalized, including offering bribes repeatedly or to multiple people.

It also states that those who offer bribes to gain benefits from important construction projects or those related to the environmental, finance, social insurance, security, food, drug, disaster relief, education or healthcare sectors will also be severely punished.

Data disclosed at the 20th CPC National Congress, which was held in Beijing in October, also showed that some 100,000 people who offered bribes have been placed under investigation over the past decade.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress also required discipline authorities nationwide to punish both bribe takers and givers and combat new and disguised forms of corruption.

It refines stipulations concerning the crime of offering bribes as well as corruption conducted by personnel of private enterprises.

It refines stipulations concerning the crime of offering bribes as well as corruption conducted by private enterprise personnel.

Earlier this year, Li was indicted on charges of taking bribes and abuse of power.

It noted that some cliques set up wine, mahjong or fishing circles with people who enjoy these hobbies, and then take advantage of the relationships formed to offer or accept bribes.

Wang took advantage of his positions to accept bribes, manipulate promotions, meddle in some cases and enterprise operations, according to the investigation by the National Commission of Supervision.

Zhang Xinqi, former deputy head of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress, was given a life sentence by a court in Jiangsu province on Monday for taking bribes worth more than 155 million yuan ($22 million).

"But considering he provided evidence of some other influential cases and confessed to most of the bribes that the investigators hadn't known about during interrogation, with recovery of the illicit gains, we've decided to leniently punish him," the court said.

Procuratorial organs have punished both those who give or accept bribes, and suggested stricter punishment to bribe givers, according to the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Procuratorial organs have taken action against both bribe givers and takers, especially for those who gave bribes multiple times, in large amounts or to multiple people, he said.

"In addition, heavy punishment was imposed on people who used bribes to hunt and corrupt officials in key areas such as organization and human resources, production safety, education and medical care," he said.

If the bribers achieve their aims, they may offer more bribes to more officials, forming a circle trading money and power, which would lead to major losses of national interests," Shi said.

In one case, for example, Xu Baoyi, former deputy general manager of the China Grain Reserves Group, or Sinograin, was charged with accepting bribes of more than 13 million yuan ($1.91 million), dereliction of duty and insider trading by prosecutors in Shanxi province in October.

The report to the 20th CPC National Congress, which was held in October, also asked the authorities to punish both bribe takers and givers and combat new and disguised forms of corruption.

"Bribe takers and givers engage in trading power and money, which is an important cause for the spread of corruption.

Only by cutting off the interest chain between the hunted officials and bribes can the soil of corruption be eradicated," he said.

The document listed five key supervision categories — people who give bribes multiple times, bribes of large amounts of money, or offering bribes to a large number of people; Party cadres and employees of government agencies who offer bribes; people who offer bribes in key work sections or major projects; people who offer bribes in the fields of human resources, law enforcement and judiciary, assistance to vulnerable groups and disaster relief, education and health; and people who offer major commercial bribes.

The CCDI and NCS are accelerating the construction of a national database on those who give bribes and are studying the establishment of a punishment mechanism.

A typical manifestation of commercial bribery is rent-seeking corruption, in which businessmen offer bribes to officials with monopolistic power in order to obtain improper benefits, said Zhuang Deshui, deputy head of Peking University's Clean Government Research Center.

According to statistics released by the top procuratorate, procuratorial organs nationwide prosecuted 8,380 people for taking bribes and 2,563 people for giving bribes in 2022.

Liu Yanping, a former senior discipline inspector, received a suspended death sentence for taking bribes exceeding 234 million yuan ($32.8 million) on Tuesday.

Liu's acts constituted the crime of taking bribes, with a particularly huge number and serious circumstances, and the social impact was extremely bad, causing heavy losses to the interests of the State and the people, said the court.

It is imperative to resolutely crack down on corruption that undermines the people's interests, combat new and disguised forms of corruption, and punish both bribe takers and givers, the communique said.

- Yu Luming, former vice chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has been indicted on charges of taking bribes, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said in a statement on Sunday.