On the last day of May, after more than five months of being indicted, Wang Xuefeng, former Deputy Director of the Standing Committee of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress and former Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, stood trial on charges of bribery and using his influence to accept bribes in the first instance. He is accused of accepting a total of 88.18 million yuan in bribes.
May 31st, the Intermediate People’s Court of Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, held a public trial in the case of Wang Xuefeng, former member of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee and former Deputy Director, on charges of bribery and using his influence to accept bribes.
The prosecution stated that from 1999 to 2022, Wang Xuefeng, during his tenure as Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary, Executive Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection, Director of the Hebei Provincial Supervision Department, Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Director of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee, and Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee, accepted a total of over 84.07 million yuan in goods and money. After retiring, Wang Xuefeng received a total of over 4.11 million yuan in gifts.
The prosecution requested that Wang Xuefeng be held criminally responsible for the crimes of bribery and using his influence to accept bribes. At the end of the trial, the court announced an adjournment and deferred the sentencing.
Wang Xuefeng, age 69, a native of Yongnian, Handan, Hebei province, was once known as the “top tiger” of Hebei after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. In 1979, he entered politics, and in August 2001, he shifted to the disciplinary system.
In August 2010, Wang Xuefeng became the Secretary of the Tangshan Municipal Party Committee; In January 2013, he became the Deputy Director of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress and rose to the deputy provincial level. In January 2018, with a leadership change in the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress, 63-year-old Wang Xuefeng stepped down.
On January 6, 2023, Wang Xuefeng was officially taken down from his position, arrested on July 25, and on December 20, he was indicted by the Taiyuan Procuratorate in Shanxi Province and brought to trial before the Taiyuan Intermediate People’s Court.
So far this year, a total of 15 high-ranking officials of the Communist Party of China have been on trial following the recent string of crackdowns. Earlier cases involved individuals such as Zhou Jiankun, Zhang Xiaopei, Ji Guogang, He Zehua, Fu Zhongwei, Zhang Fusheng, Sun Shutao, Fan Yi, Li Dong, Liu Liange, Cui Maohu, Ji Binchang, Jiao Xiaoping, and Li Zaiyong, with the cases of Zhou Jiankun, Zhang Xiaopei, and He Zehua already having been sentenced in the first instance.
According to reports from Caixin, Xie Jilai and Song Taiping, who served as Deputy Directors of the Hebei Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee alongside Wang Xuefeng, have also been taken down. Xie Jilai was found to have amassed over 88.70 million yuan in assets over 21 years and was sentenced to 15 years in the first trial; Song Taiping was convicted of accepting bribes totaling over 69.49 million yuan over 18 years and received a 14-year sentence in the first trial.