AP
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News from the NOS•today, 08:28•Modified today, 09:17
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In China, another former senior official was sentenced to a severe corruption sentence. Former minister Sun Lijun (53) was sentenced to death with parole, which in practice is often commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Yesterday a former colleague of Sun sentenced to the same penalty.
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Sun was the deputy secretary of security affairs and thus responsible for fighting corruption. In 2020 he himself was accused of negligence. Last January he confessed in a televised message that he had grown rich.
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He has now been convicted of taking bribes, stock market manipulation and illegal possession of weapons. He would be involved an amount of 90 million euros converted. Sun’s case was previously the subject of a five-part documentary series on fighting corruption.
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Sun allegedly conspired with former justice minister Fu Zhenghua, who was convicted yesterday. He confessed that he was bribed for millions and covered up the crimes of his brother and others, although it is not clear exactly which ones.
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Police commissioners in Shanghai, Chongqing and Shanxi were also sentenced to prison for corruption this week. One of them has to go to prison for life.
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The crackdown on white-collar crime comes three weeks before the Communist Party Congress, which is held once every five years. Chinese President Xi wants to secure a third five-year term there, a break from the maximum term of office used so far.
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