What’s new: Tong Daochi, the former Communist Party chief of southern China’s scenic city Sanya in Hainan province, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for insider trading and accepting 274 million yuan ($43 million) of bribes.
Tong, 55, was also sentenced to a fine of 4 million yuan and confiscation of all personal property for insider trading, the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen in Guangdong province ruled Thursday. Tong said in court that he wouldn’t appeal the death sentence.
Tong obtained inside information on stocks in his role as a policy planning official at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) between 2006 and 2007, the court found. He then directed relatives and close associates to buy stocks before the information was made public, making illegal profits totaling more than 2.28 million yuan, the court said.
He also used his positions as a senior securities regulator and Sanya government official between 2004 and 2020 to accept bribes in exchange for business favors and promotion opportunities, the court found.
The background: Tong began his political career after returning to China from studying in the United States, taking a post in Beijing at the CSRC as a policy planning official in 2000. After working at the CSRC for 14 years, Tong was promoted to assistant minister in China’s Ministry of Commerce from 2014 to 2016.
He then spent two years as a deputy governor of Central China’s Hubei province before arriving in Hainan in 2018 as a party provincial standing committee member followed by his elevation to party chief of Sanya.
His downfall followed a series of investigations into alleged wrongdoing by other senior civilian and military officials in Hainan.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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