China telecommunications executive receives death penalty for corruption

Zhang Chunjiang was found guilty of accepting bribes

A former executive at China Mobile Ltd was sentenced to death, with a two year reprieve, on Friday 22nd July for accepting bribes.

Zhang Chunjiang, a former vice chairman of China Mobile, the world's largest mobile phone operator by subscriber number, was found guilty of accepting more than US$1.15 million in bribes while working at a series of state-run telecom companies between 1994 and 2009.

Xinhua, the state-run news agency said that Zhang confessed to his crimes, and therefore was given the two year reprieve. The New York Times suggested that with good behaviour, Zhang's sentence might be commuted to life in prison.

Zhang was found guilty of taking bribes while working as the deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Postal Administration, while he was general manager of the China Netcom Group, and while he was Communist Party chief and deputy general manager of China Mobile.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the details of Zhang's crimes were not revealed, leaving obscured the larger network of corruption that might have surrounded him. This is common in China's corruption trials.

The state-owned telecommunications giant, China Mobile, has an opaque shareholding structure. Indeed, Zhang was initially investigated by the party – the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection – rather than the state.

The Chinese authorities have made fighting high level corruption a priority, and in a major speech on 1st July, President Hu Jintao said corruption was the biggest risk to the party's continued rule.

“Corruption will cost the party the support and trust of the people,” he said.

The lucrative telecommunications industry is the subject of a number of major corruption investigations. China's top three telecommunications companies – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom – are all being investigated, and at least seven senior managers from China Mobile have been arrested since 2009.

A number of investigations have been launched into state-owned industries and government officials in recent years, many of which have resulted in death sentences.

Two former vice mayors of eastern Chinese cities were executed for corruption last week.

According to the Supreme People's Court, 28,708 officials were convicted of abuse of power in 2010. Of them, 5,906 were sentenced to more than 5 years in jail.

Sources: China Daily, New York Times, Xinhua, Wall Street Journal

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