A Chinese court has declared a former Communist Party secretary of eastern Hangzhou to life in jail, with state media having a view that he had been recognized as guilty of accepting more than 182 million yuan (S$34 million) in bribes. The punishment of Zhou Jiangyong, the former party chief of the city south-west of Shanghai which is home to Chinese tech giants such as Alibaba and Ant Group, was made official at a court in Chuzhou, in eastern Anhui province, on Tuesday, CCTV news said.
Zhou was discovered to have personally or through his relatives accepted bribes in cities and nations in Zhejiang rule between 2001 and 2021 for the favor of aiding deals such as one connected to construction and land ownership. CCTV did not name any other parties included. Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang. He was given a suspended death punishment that will be commuted to life in jail after two years. Zhou was first declared to have been taken under investigation for “stringent abuse of discipline and laws” in August 2021. He was removed from the party and eradicated from the post some months later.