Former rail chief sentenced to death with reprieve

A screenshot from China's Central Television shows former railways minister Liu Zhijun standing trial in a court in Beijing on June 9, 2013.

BEIJING - China's former railways minister Liu Zhijun was sentenced death penalty with a two-year reprieve here on Monday for bribery and abuse of power.

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court announced the verdict of the first instance.

The court sentenced Liu to death with a two-year reprieve, deprived his political rights for life and confiscated all his personal property for taking bribes. Liu was also sentenced to 10 years in jail for abuse of power, according to the court verdict.

The combined punishment for Liu's crimes is death penalty with a two-year reprieve, deprival of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property, the court said.

The court found that from 1986 to 2011, Liu took advantage of his positions as official of local railway authorities as well as the former Ministry of Railways, and helped 11 people, Shao Liping and Ding Yuxin included, win promotions, project contracts, and cargo transportation contracts. He accepted 64.6 million yuan (10.53 million U.S. dollars) in bribes from them during this period.

During his tenure as railways minister, Liu helped Ding Yuxin and her relatives to win cargo transportation contracts and railway construction contracts. He also helped them in the acquisition of shares in a bullet train wheel set company, and with enterprise financing, by breaking regulations and applying favoritism, which allowed Ding and her family to reap huge profits and inflicted colossal losses in the public assets, violating rights and interests of the state and the people.