China’s former justice minister handed life sentence over bribery in Xi Jinping’s latest purge

Tang’s sentencing comes at a time Xi Jinping is engaged in pursuing his broader anti-corruption campaign punishing more than 200,000 officials

A Chinese court has sentenced the country's former justice minister Tang Yijun to life in prison on charges of accepting bribes, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday.

Tang, 64, has been found guilty of illegally accepting property worth more than 137m yuan (£14.38m) over a period of 16 years, between 2006 and 2022, the Xianmen Intermediate People’s Court in the southeastern coastal Fujian province said on Monday.

The former minister has been accused of abusing his top role to seek benefits for entities and individuals in areas such as company listings, land buybacks, bank loans and case handling, the report added.

Tang was accused of graft charges for helping his family members secure financial deals and accepting lavish gifts and travel expenses, according to China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – tasked with enforcing inner-party regulations – in 2024.

He was expelled from the Communist Party later that year.

“Tang’s actions constituted the crime of bribery” and the sum involved were “particularly huge”, the court said in its ruling, adding that the transactions from the former justice minister resulted in “particularly serious losses” to the interests of the state and the people.

All of Tang’s personal property has now been confiscated and he has now been deprived of political rights for life, CCTV reported.

His sentencing comes at a time Chinese president Xi Jinping is engaged in pursuing his broader anti-corruption campaign punishing more than 200,000 officials since he took power in 2012.

General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission attends the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing (AP)

Just days earlier, the Chinese defence ministry said it was investigating the country’s military’s top general Zhang Youxia for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, marking the highest-profile purge in senior military leadership to date.

Over the weekend, China’s anti-graft watchdog said it was launching an investigation into Wang Xiangxi, the Chinese minister of emergency management, in what is a rare case of a sitting minister being probed.

TheCCDI said it has launched a probe into Mr Wang’s conduct for “serious violations of discipline and law”, a euphemism used in China for suspected corruption, abuse of power, or related offences.

In 2022 former Chinese justice minister Fu Zhenghua was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on charges of taking bribes and helping criminals including his brother hide illegal activity. His conviction added to a string of senior officials who have been punished for corruption in a long-running crackdown launched after Mr Xi took power.