China’s former agriculture minister handed suspended death sentence over bribery
The court determined that Tang accepted illicit payments in cash and assets valued at more than 268 million yuan (about $37.6 million) across multiple official roles he held between 2007 and 2024.
Former Chinese Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Tang Renjian has been given a death sentence with a two-year reprieve after being found guilty of bribery, state media reported on Sunday.
The ruling was delivered by the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court in Jilin province, according to Xinhua.
The court determined that Tang accepted illicit payments in cash and assets valued at more than 268 million yuan (about $37.6 million) across multiple official roles he held between 2007 and 2024.
His death sentence will remain suspended for two years, with the court noting that he had confessed to the offences.
Tang’s downfall began swiftly in 2024 when he was removed from his ministerial role and placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog. He was formally expelled from the Party in November of that year, only months after the probe began.
His case has been compared to the rapid investigations of defence ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, both of whom also came under scrutiny in Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-graft drive.
Since 2020, Xi has intensified efforts to root out corruption in China’s security and legal systems, insisting that law enforcement and judicial institutions remain “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable.”
Before his ministerial appointment, Tang served as governor of Gansu province from 2017 to 2020, according to his official biography.
