Canadian pop star Wanting Qu’s mother is sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption in China
- Zhang Mingjie, a former Harbin planning official, was convicted of taking US$15 million in bribes from a property developer
- Her sentencing ends years of uncertainty about the high-profile case, in which Zhang had faced a possible death penalty
The mother of Canadian pop star Wanting Qu has been convicted of corruption by a Chinese court and sentenced to life imprisonment, more than five years after a trial in which prosecutors had requested the death penalty.
The Harbin City Intermediate People’s Court announced late on Wednesday that Zhang Mingjie, 66, a former planning official with the municipal government in the capital of northern Heilongjiang province, had been convicted and sentenced that morning, ending years of uncertainty about the high-profile case.
She was found guilty of bribery and abuse of power over a 2011 property deal involving the redevelopment of state-owned farmland, the court said in an announcement on its website.
It said she received a cash bribe of 5 million yuan (US$780,000) from the developer and a stake in the project worth 93 million yuan (US$14.6 million).
The scheme caused losses of more than 230 million yuan (US$36 million) to the public purse, the announcement said, and Zhang’s sentence included the seizure of all her assets.