Former Shanghai Land official jailed for 14 years

Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court

The former vice president of Shanghai Land (Group) Co Ltd, Xin Jiping, has been sentenced to 14 years in jail and fined 1 million yuan (US$147,445) for corruption, bribe taking, selling state assets at low prices and concealing overseas deposits.

According to Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, between 2002 and 2015, Xin took advantage of his positions, including as general manager and president of Shanghai Hongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone United Development Company, to provide inproper assistance to others on bidding for projects like the decoration, gardening and landscaping of the real estate the company developed.

He also helped others with purchasing and renting the company's houses and stores in return for kickbacks.

The bribes he took, which included cash, luxury watches and gift cards, were worth more than 2.78 million yuan.

In October 2013, when he was president of the company, Xin decided to sell 66 of its stores on the Pudong New Area's Dingxiang Road and other places at low prices. More than 30 of them sold at prices 21.82 million yuan lower than the market price, violating the regulations on the disposal of state assets.

Xin also bought five of the stores himself under other names, appropriating state property worth over 2.98 million yuan.

In 2000, Xin opened investment fund and deposit accounts at the Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong and transferred US dollars and Hong Kong dollars into these accounts without declaring them as required.

By July 2017, deposits in these accounts had reached more than 620,000 yuan.

The court said that since Xin had confessed to all his crimes and returned his illicit gains, he got lenient punishments.