China’s former agriculture minister Tang Renjian sentenced to death with reprieve for bribery
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The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended Tang Renjian's death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes.
PHOTO: CHINA'S MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
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SHENZHEN, China - Tang Renjian, China’s former minister of agriculture and rural affairs, was sentenced to death with reprieve for bribery in a court in Jilin province on Sept 28, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.
Tang took bribes including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan (S$48.5 million) when he held various positions from 2007 to 2024, Xinhua said.
The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting that he had confessed to his crimes, it added.
The Communist Party of China expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post.
Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar investigations into former defence minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe.
President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure that police, prosecutors and judges are “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable”.
Tang was governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020 before being named minister of agriculture and rural affairs, according to official biographies.
In January, Mr Xi said corruption is the biggest threat to the Communist Party and remains on the rise. REUTERS
