China's biggest graft case leads to death penalty for former official

Midlevel worker in Inner Mongolia stunned nation with alleged $420m illicit gains

20231211 Caixin Waterfront Town

Waterfront Town is a project developed by Hohhot Chunhua Water Development Group. Falsified transaction deals for properties in the area were part of the massive graft.

FENG HUAMEI and HAN WEI, Caixin

In a nation of superlatives when it comes to the scale of just about everything, now one former official in North China's Inner Mongolia can add his dubious achievement to the list: a staggering 3 billion yuan ($420 million) in misappropriated funds and accepted bribes, the biggest haul from graft by an individual in the country's history, according to Caixin calculations based on publicly available information.

Li Jianping, who once headed a special economic zone in Hohhot and the city's water management authority, was found guilty of pocketing this massive sum in September 2022 and sentenced to death for corruption, bribery, embezzlement and engaging in organized crime. He filed an appeal and the Inner Mongolia High Court retried the case in August. A new verdict is still pending.

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