China's former railways minister Liu Zhijun was sentenced Monday to death with a two-year reprieve for bribery and abuse of power, according to the Chinese State News Agency Xinhua.
Accused of corruption, bribery and steering lucrative projects to his close associates, Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court confiscated all his personal property and took away all political rights of the 60-year-old.
Earlier, Liu begged for leniency while admitting his guilt.
Sentencing Liu to death reflects the determination and confidence of the newly appointed Chinese President Xijinping who has vowed to put an end to bribery and corruption.
The former railway minister was accused of accepting 64.6 million Chinese Yuan ($10.5 million) in unspecified bribes between 1986 and 2011.
"Liu's malpractice led to huge losses of public assets and damage to the interests of the state and people," noted the indictment, according to Xinhua.
In what could be seen as an attempt to change the system and tackle corruption , President Xi Jinping last month ordered audits of the People's Liberation Army's property and land holdings.
"Such anti-corruption practices will affect the interest of many powerful officers and could easily trigger a backlash," said Director of the Institute of Mainland China Studies at Taiwan's National Sun Yat-sen University, Lin Wen-Cheng.
"He wouldn't come up with such rhetoric unless he was fully confident," said Lin Wen-Cheng.
Hoping to reduce bureaucracy and boost the efficiency of the railways, Beijing earlier this year had separated the regulatory and commercial arms of the Ministry of Railways.
