Former senior Hunan official receives death sentence with reprieve for bribery

A court in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, sentenced Dai Daojin, a former senior political adviser of Central China's Hunan province, to death with a two-year reprieve on Tuesday for accepting bribes totaling over 107 million yuan ($15 million), China Central Television reported.

The Zhuhai Intermediate People's Court sentenced Dai, who was the former vice-chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

He was deprived of political rights for life and had all of his property confiscated for the bribery charge.

He was also sentenced to four years in prison and fined 400,000 yuan for using his influence to accept bribes.

The court combined the sentences, deciding on a final punishment of death with a two-year reprieve, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.

The court found that between 2000 and 2024, Dai exploited his numerous positions to assist individuals and entities in business operations, project contracting, and job adjustments or promotions. He directly or indirectly accepted bribes totaling over 107 million yuan.

Furthermore, from the latter half of 2021 to 2023, after retirement, Dai leveraged the influence derived from his former positions to secure improper benefits for others in project contracting and project payment settlements, accepting bribes worth over 3.66 million yuan directly or through relatives.

The court determined that Dai's actions constituted bribery and the crime of using influence to accept bribes. The bribery amount was deemed "especially huge", causing "especially significant losses" to State and public interests, meriting the death penalty. The influence-peddling amount was also "especially huge", warranting severe punishment combined with the bribery sentence.

However, the court noted several mitigating factors. Some of the bribery attempts were unsuccessful, and Dai truthfully confessed after being detained. He also voluntarily disclosed most of the bribery facts that had been previously unknown to investigators, expressed remorse, and returned illicit gains. Most of the illegal proceeds and interest had already been recovered.

The court deemed an immediate execution unnecessary for the bribery charge and reduced the sentence for the influence-peddling charge, leading to the final verdict.