China Mobile exec given death sentence for bribery

A former deputy general manager at China Mobile has been sentenced to death by the Chinese state, having been found guilty of corruption.

Zhang Chunjiang, who was detained late in 2009, confessed to having accepted US$1.16m in bribes between 1994 and 2009 when he held senior positions at the Liaoning Provincial Postal Administration, China Netcom and lastly China Mobile, when he was also party chief.

The death sentence is suspended for two years and may be commuted to life imprisonment pending good behaviour, because Zhang confessed to the crimes, and the money was returned. Zhang has also been expelled from China’s Communist Party.

According to local news reports, the chief engineer of Chinese telecoms regulator the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Su Jinsheng, has also been detained in connection with the case.

A wide-ranging investigation into corruption in the Chinese telecoms sector was announced in May this year when it was announced that as many as 60 people were under investigation. Chinese media outlets have reported that a number of those detained have had their passports confiscated by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.