Former FAW Group Chairman Xu Jianyi was sentenced to more than a decade for accepting nearly $2 million in bribes.
Former FAW Group Chairman Xu Jianyi was sentenced to more than a decade in prison following a bribery conviction, according to China Daily, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The Beijing No.1 Intermediate People’s Court also ordered Xu Jianyi to forfeit personal property and to turn over his “illicit gains,” the paper said.
The court found that from 2000 to 2013, Xu took advantage of his various posts to help others with business contracts, promotions, and directly or indirectly accepted assets worth $1.77 million.
Xu had served as vice general manager, general manager and chairman of FAW Group Corp.; a member of the standing committee of Communist Party of China Jilin provincial committee; and Party chief of Jilin city from 2000 to 2013.
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The court showed some leniency, taking into consideration his confession, remorse and the fact that he voluntarily turned over all his ill-gotten gains, the paper said.
FAW is one of China’s oldest and largest automotive companies and is also the key partner of several western carmakers, most notably Volkswagen AG, which has used it connected to FAW to become the sales leader in China. VW’s success in China also has been critical to VW’s effort to nose out Toyota to become the world’s largest automaker in 2016.
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FAW also has emerged as one of the first Chinese automakers to export vehicles to countries in South America as well as in Africa where the Chinese government has cultivated commercials ties over the past two decades.
The charges against XU first came to light last September, according to the Chinese media.
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In 2015, the state-run media in China had reported that Shi Tao, a former executive of the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture, was jailed for life in 2015 for taking bribes.