Recently, the former Deputy Secretary-General of the Anhui Provincial Government, Wang Cheng, was sentenced to 11 and a half years in prison for corruption and abuse of power. Prior to his downfall, he served as the chairman of the publicly listed company Conch Cement.
On May 6th, the Anhui Province Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision of the Communist Party of China announced that the Intermediate People’s Court of Chizhou City recently handed down a first-instance judgment on Wang Cheng, the former Deputy Secretary-General of the Anhui Provincial Government. He was sentenced to 11 years and 6 months in prison for bribery and abuse of power, and fined 2 million RMB.
The court stated that from 1999 to 2022, Wang Cheng took advantage of his positions as the District Chief of Tianjiaan District in Huainan City, Deputy Mayor of Huainan City, Mayor of Bengbu City, and Chairman of the Conch Group, using his power and status to seek personal gain, accepting bribes totaling 26.37380959 million RMB, of which 15.8375 million RMB were unsuccessful attempts. Following the case, Wang Cheng returned all the illicit funds and goods. Additionally, Wang Cheng abused his power in investment promotion work, resulting in a loss of 17 million RMB in state-owned assets.
After the verdict was announced, Wang Cheng stated in court that he would not appeal.
Public records show that from April 2021 to May 2022, Wang Cheng served as the legal representative and chairman of Conch Cement, a publicly listed company with a market value of hundreds of billions.
According to a previous announcement by Conch Cement, on May 17, 2022, the company received Wang Cheng’s written resignation report, in which he cited personal job changes and applied to resign from his positions as chairman and executive director of the company, no longer serving as the company’s legal representative.
Less than a month after Wang Cheng’s departure, on June 13, his downfall was officially announced.
It is worth noting that on June 16, 2023, Wang Cheng’s trial for bribery and abuse of power began, during which he pleaded guilty. However, nearly 11 months later, the first-instance judgment was finally publicized. According to Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the Communist Party of China, the court should pronounce a judgment within two months after accepting a public prosecution case, with a maximum time limit of three months.