Former Top Chinese Leader Sentenced To Life Imprisonment For Corruption Charges

Former Chinese High-Flyer Sun Zhengcai Gets Life Imprisonment For Taking Bribes

•  Former Chinese political high-flyer Sun Zhengcai is sentenced to life in prison for corruption.
• A Chinese court announced life imprisonment to the 54-year-old former politician on Tuesday, 7th May after he was convicted of taking bribes.
• Sun had confessed to accepting more than 170 million Yuan ($27 million) between 2002 and 2017 in both property and cash.
• Sun was a former member of China's ruling Communist Party's Politburo and was considered a future leader at the time of his downfall.

A Chinese court in the northern port city of Tianjin has sentenced a former political high-flyer Sun Zhengcai to life imprisonment for taking more than $26 million in bribes on Tuesday, 7th May.

In addition to the life imprisonment, Sun's all property was confiscated and was deprived of political rights for life. The State broadcaster CCTV telecasted Sun in the court accepting the sentence where he also said he would not appeal.

Sun was one of the members of the party's 25-member Politburo and the top official in the western megacity of Chongqing before he was suddenly expelled from the committee in July 2017.

Sun came under investigation by the disciplinary arm in July last year which is one of the moves of president Xi Jinping's campaign to eradicate corruption out of China. Since taking the power in 2012, Xi brought more than 1 million officials to his campaign. Meanwhile, political analysts say Xi has used his campaign to eliminate some of his rivals.

Sun was in charge of Chongqing, one of China's largest cities situated far from Beijing, in 2012 after the former Party Secretary Bo Xilai was sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption in a scandal involving the murder of a British businessman.