Nephew of China's former domestic security tsar jailed for graft

China’s former security tsar Zhou Yongkang at an alumni celebration in his former university, the China University of Petroleum, in Beijing on Oct 1, 2013. PHOTO: CHINA UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM

BEIJING (REUTERS) - The nephew of fallen Chinese domestic security tsar Zhou Yongkang has been jailed for 12 years, state media reported on Friday (June 17), the latest of his relatives to be sentenced on graft charges.

Zhou's family has been ensnared in President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption, a broad campaign that has felled officials at all levels of government including many of Xi's top political opponents.

Zhou's nephew, Zhou Feng, was also fined 59 million yuan (S$12 million), state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on an official microblog account. He will not appeal, the broadcaster said.

The court that jailed Zhou Feng said in a statement on its microblog account he had committed financial crimes using fraudulent receipts.

It was not clear if he had retained a lawyer. The court said he accepted the verdict.

Zhou Yongkang's wife and son were jailed on Wednesday, also on graft charges. His son, Zhou Bin, had business in the energy sector and had fled to the United States in 2013 before returning, sources told Reuters in 2014.

Many Zhou Yongkang acolytes have been caught up in the anti-graft campaign, including Jiang Jiemin, once the top regulator of state-owned assets.

Zhou Yongkang was a member of the party's elite Politburo Standing Committee and was once among China's most powerful officials.

But he became embroiled in China's biggest corruption scandal in more than six decades - the most senior leader targeted in a corruption investigation since the Communist Party took power in 1949 - and was jailed for life in 2015.

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