China

Six sentenced to death in Chongqing corruption trials

Article published on the 2009-10-21 Latest update 2009-10-21 13:28 TU

The town centre of Chongqing
(Photo: Reuters)

A court in south-west China sentenced six people to death Wednesday in trials that have lifted the lid on the Chongqing underworld, with sordid tales of sex, gambling and corruption.

The court in Chongqing, one of China's largest cities, sentenced to death ring leader Yang Tianqing, 35, and five other defendants for murder, assault, extortion and other charges linked to organised crime, it said on its website.

Three were given two-year reprieves, meaning their sentences were likely to be commuted to life in prison.

"This organisation illegally controlled the Yubei district ... carried out illegal criminal activities against land and construction developers and coerced ordinary people. Their influence has been odious," the court said.

More than 1,500 suspects linked to organised crime groups have been arrested in the Chongqing crackdown, in which 14 top judicial and police officials have been implicated, said a top party official, Liu Guanglei.

Wen Qiang, who became Chongqing's top judicial official last year after 16 years on the police force, is accused of protecting an intricate web of businessmen, officials and mobsters in the city of over 30 million people.

Wen, who amassed assets valued at over 100 million yuan by allegedly taking kickbacks from crime bosses, has confessed and expressed remorse since his arrest, the Yangzi Evening News said Tuesday.

Wen's sister-in-law, Xie Caiping, was tried last week for running up to 20 gambling dens in Chongqing hotels and paying off police to turn a blind eye to her criminal activities that included illegal drug use, the Chongqing Evening Post reported.

The 46-year-old Xie, who drove a Mercedes and kept several luxurious villas, maintained a stable of 16 young men to provide her with sexual services, the paper reported.

The mafia crackdown began in June following a series of murders with much of the effort to rid the city of organised crime attributed to Bo Xilai, a former commerce minister who was appointed as Chongqing's top official in 2007. Sentences are still pending in three other cases.