Business tycoon Gu's sentence reduced

The Supreme People's Court's (SPC) First Circuit Court on Wednesday commuted the original sentence of Gu Chujun from 10 years in prison to five and dropped two of the three charges against the business tycoon in a retrial.

In 2008 Gu was sentenced to 10 years for three crimes – falsely reporting registered capital, falsifying and withholding information, and embezzlement – at the Foshan Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong. He was fined 6.8 million yuan ($1.03 million).

Gu appealed, but the Provincial High People's Court of Guangdong upheld the ruling in 2009.

Soon after Gu's release in September 2012, he petitioned the top court to hear his case, insisting on his innocence.

The two-day retrial started on June 13, 2018 at the SPC's First Circuit Court in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

On Wednesday the court found him guilty of embezzlement and sentenced him to five years in prison, which he has already served.

The retrial corrected the wrong charges based on the facts, which has upheld justice and let the entrepreneur know the importance of obeying the law during business activities, SPC said in a statement after the new verdict was delivered.

The retrial, which was livestreamed on the SPC’s website, has released positive signals to the public that property rights will be protected by the law, which is very important in encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation, it said.

It added that since Gu has overserved his sentence, he can ask for state compensation, which was explained to him by the court.