Yang Xiuzhu, 71, embezzled some US$3 million of public funds and accepted US$1.1 million in gifts while she was deputy mayor of Wenzhou, court finds
China’s most-wanted fugitive has been sentenced to eight years in prison for corruption and taking bribes by a court in Zhejiang province, according to state media.
Yang Xiuzhu, 71, was also fined 800,000 yuan (US$121,000) by the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court, state mouthpiece People’s Daily reported on Thursday.
The sentence comes amid a wave of high-profile trials involving corrupt officials repatriated from overseas through a major campaign dubbed Operation Fox Hunt, and another known as Sky Net, launched in 2014 as part of President Xi Jinping’s sweeping crackdown on graft.
The drive has been spearheaded by anti-graft watchdog the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, led by Xi ally Wang Qishan.
Yang’s case has attracted particular attention because she is one of very few women cadres to be publicly tried for corruption.
China’s most wanted fugitive official returns home after decade on the run
She was top of a list of former officials wanted by Beijing for corruption – and subject to an Interpol arrest warrant – after she fled the country in 2003. She sought refuge in Hong Kong, Singapore, France, the Netherlands and Italy before she went to the United States in 2014.
