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Potential successor to President Xi gets life for bribery
[DAWN] BEIJING: A former Chinese Communist Party official who was once tipped as a potential successor to President Xi Jinping was sentenced to life in prison for bribery on Tuesday, the latest senior cadre to fall in Xi’s sweeping anti-corruption crusade.Sun Zhengcai, a former Politburo member and party chief of the southwestern mega-city of Chongqing, was found guilty of taking more than 170 million yuan ($26.7 million) in bribes, the First Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin said in a statement on its website. Sun, 54, had once been tipped for promotion to the Politburo’s elite seven-member standing committee, which rules the country and is presided over by Xi. As the youngest Politburo member, Sun was even seen in some quarters as a potential successor to Xi. The court said the defendant had been given a "lenient" sentence in light of his willingness to cooperate with the investigation. Posted by: Fred 2018-05-10 |
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