Inner Mongolia Corrupt Official Li Jianping's Death Sentence Upheld in Appeal; Over 3 Billion Yuan Involved (AI Translation)

内蒙古巨贪李建平二审维持死刑 涉案超30亿元

Li Jianping, a former Party Secretary of the Hohhot Economic Development Zone in Inner Mongolia, was accused of embezzling over 3 billion yuan. On August 27, the Inner Mongolia Higher People’s Court upheld his death sentence. The charges against Li include embezzlement, bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and condoning organized crime. The case has been submitted for approval by the Supreme People's Court [para. 1].

Li Jianping was dismissed from his post in September 2018 and expelled from the Communist Party a year later. Initially, his downfall attracted little attention, but in February 2021, revelations about his involvement in a 3 billion yuan corruption case caused nationwide outrage. This amount surpasses the combined corruption of notable figures like Lai Xiaomin and Zhang Zhongsheng, making it the highest publicly disclosed corruption case in China’s history [para. 2][para. 3].

In the first-instance verdict delivered on September 27, 2022, the Hinggan League Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Li to death for corruption, with life-long deprivation of political rights and confiscation of all personal property. For accepting bribes, he was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and similar confiscation of personal property. Additionally, Li received a life sentence for embezzling public funds. The sentences were aggregated, resulting in a ruling for his execution. The court also ordered the recovery of all illicit gains and interest [para. 4].

An article in the China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News highlighted how Li started by using his position to secure engineering projects for people in exchange for money and gifts. Li's involvement escalated to billions of yuan over time. The indictment against him involved embezzlement of 1.437 billion yuan and misappropriation of public funds totaling 1.056 billion yuan, among other crimes [para. 5][para. 6].

Li's criminal collusion involved several companies, including the state-owned Chunhua Water, Huizeheng Investment, and Hohhot ETDZ Investment. His fraudulent activities were linked to a commercial real estate project named Shui'an Town. Li and his confederates defrauded state funds amounting to 1.145 billion yuan from 2017 to 2018 [para. 7][para. 8].

During his first trial, Li initially confessed but later recanted, claiming the real estate transactions were legitimate business activities. However, the second trial upheld the first-instance verdict due to the substantial evidence against him [para. 9][para. 10].

In his defense, Li Jianping asserted he was unaware of key details related to the embezzled public funds and denied charges of embezzlement and bribery. However, substantial evidence indicated his involvement in fraudulent financial transactions [para. 11][para. 12][para. 13].

The court found that Li had close ties with Zhao Wenyuan, a known mafia leader, and failed to perform his duties lawfully, thus facilitating organized crime. Li’s actions had severe social repercussions, involving significant public fund embezzlement with some funds even transferred overseas or used for gambling [para. 14][para. 15][para. 16].

Li filed an appeal after the first trial. However, on August 17, 2023, the Inner Mongolia Higher People’s Court upheld the original verdict, leading to his confirmed death sentence [para. 17]. This case has been one of the most significant anti-corruption cases in Inner Mongolia’s history.