Former chairman of State-owned enterprise sentenced to death with two-year reprieve

The Shanghai First Intermediate People's Court delivered a verdict against Zheng Jianhua, former Party secretary and chairman of State-owned enterprise Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd, on Tuesday, sentencing him to death with a two-year reprieve for multiple counts of occupational crimes.

Zheng, born in 1960, was found guilty of bribery, embezzlement, misappropriation of public funds, and abuse of power as an employee of a State-owned company.

The court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery, stripped him of his political rights for life, and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets. Additionally, Zheng received a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 200,000 yuan ($28,667) for embezzlement, a 15-year sentence for misappropriation of public funds, and a seven-year sentence for abuse of power as an employee of a State-owned company.

An investigation by the court revealed that from 2003 to 2021, Zheng exploited his position to solicit or illegally accept assets worth more than 156 million yuan. Between 2007 and 2008, Zheng and his accomplices embezzled 2.15 million yuan from public funds. In the first half of 2018, Zheng misappropriated public funds for personal loans for others, leaving over 700 million yuan unpaid by the time of his arrest. From 2015 to 2021, he abused his power to enhance his political achievements and personal gain, causing significant damage to national interests.

The court determined that Zheng accepted bribes of an extraordinarily large amount, causing particularly significant harm to the interests of the country and the people. In the bribery charge, there were circumstances of solicitation, which warranted a more severe punishment.

Given that some of Zheng's bribery attempts were unsuccessful and most of the illicit assets and goods have been recovered, he was sentenced to death, but the death penalty can be postponed, the court explained.

His full confession to his crimes after being brought to justice was also considered in the sentencing.