China’s former railway head sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption
- Court finds Sheng Guangzu guilty of taking bribes totalling 63.8 million yuan (US$8.9 million) from 2004 to 2022
- Sheng, who retired in 2016 after overseeing the railway ministry’s transition to China Railway Corporation, was arrested in 2022
China’s former railway minister Sheng Guangzu has been given a 15-year prison sentence for corruption, a court in Shanxi province announced on Tuesday.
Sheng, 74, was found guilty of taking bribes totalling 63.8 million yuan (US$8.9 million) from 2004 to 2022, according to the Baoji Intermediate People’s Court.
Sheng was the latest of China’s powerful railway bosses to be taken down for corruption. His predecessor, Liu Zhijun, who was railway minister from 2003 to 2011, was given a suspended death sentence in 2013.
Succeeding Liu in 2011, Sheng oversaw the ministry’s transition to the China Railway Corporation in 2013, which he went on to lead until he retired in 2016. He was named a deputy director of the Finance and Economics Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature.
In the past two decades, China has undergone massive railway construction, investing trillions of yuan to complete the world’s largest high-speed rail network of over 42,000km (26,000 miles).
The court said on Tuesday that Sheng used his power to obtain benefits for entities and individuals in areas such as business operations, contraction and career advancement in return for bribes.
