Former Chinese minister sentenced to death over taking $37m bribe

China’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tang Renjian, was sentenced to death after he was found guilty of corruption charges, state-run Xinhua reported.

Tang took bribes, including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan ($37.6 million), in various positions held from 2007 to 2024, Xinhua said.  

The Changchun Intermediate People's Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting he had confessed to his crimes, it added.

China's Communist Party expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after he was placed under investigation by the anti-graft watchdog and removed from his post.

President Xi Jinping started a campaign of purges of China's domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure police, prosecutors and judges are "absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable".

Tang was governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020 before being named minister of agriculture and rural affairs, according to official biographies.

In January, Xi said corruption is the biggest threat to China's Communist Party and remains on the rise.