China executed former official Li Jianping for embezzling over $421 million, marking the largest corruption case in the country’s history. Li’s death sentence was upheld after an appeal, underscoring China’s commitment to its anti-corruption campaign led by President Xi Jinping since 2012.
China executed Li Jianping, a former official from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on December 1, 2024, for his involvement in one of the country’s largest-ever corruption cases. Li aged 64, was convicted of embezzling over $421 million (three billion yuan), a sum that makes his case the biggest corruption scandal in China’s history.
Li had served as the secretary of the Communist Party's working committee for the Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone, where he was found guilty of illegally siphoning vast amounts of money. His death sentence, initially handed down in September 2022, was upheld after an appeal in August 2024. The execution was carried out in Inner Mongolia following approval from China’s Supreme People’s Court.
This high-profile case underscores the ongoing anti-corruption campaign that President Xi Jinping has prioritized since taking office in 2012. Under this initiative, over a million party officials have faced punishment, including numerous high-ranking military figures, to curb corruption within the Communist Party.
