Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of China's State Food and Drug
Administration, was given the death penalty at his first round of
trials in a Beijing court on Tuesday morning.
Zheng, 63, was convicted of bribe-taking and dereliction of
duty, the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court
said.
He was given the death penalty on the bribery charge and seven
years' imprisonment for the charge of dereliction of duty.
The death sentence was appropriate, according to the court,
given the "huge amount of bribes involved and the great damage
inflicted on the country and the public by Zheng's dereliction of
duty."
The bribes taken by Zheng, including cash and gifts, were worth
more than 6.49 million yuan (US$832,000), according to the
court.
The court said Zheng "sought benefits" for?eight
pharmaceutical companies by approving their drugs and medical
devices during his tenure as China's chief drug and food official
from June 1997 to December 2006.
"(Zheng's acts) greatly undermined the uprightness of an
official post and the efficiency of China's drug monitoring and
supervision, endangered public life and health, and had a very
negative social impact," the court said.
Zheng was also deprived of all of his personal property and
political rights for life.
(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2007)
