Guo Jingyi: Former MOC official sentenced to death with Reprieve

In May, the bribery case of Guo Jingyi, a former senior official of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), was adjudged in Beijing. With the cognizance of accepting 8.45 million yuan (USD 1.24 million), Guo was sentenced to death with a 2-year reprieve. His personal assets are all confiscated.

On August 13, 2008, Guo, 44, was sacked from his post and put under investigation due to the suspect of accepting bribery. He became the highest-ranked official charged for corruption since the foundation of the MOC in 2003.

According to the court’s judge, Guo Jingyi accepted RMB 4.41 million yuan, 250 thousand US dollars and 220 thousand HK dollars. In addition, he earned 1.65 million yuan through illegal property dealings.

Guo was accused of getting engaged in these criminals: a), accepting briberies to pave the way for Gome’s acquisition. From 2004 to 2007, Guo Jingyi gave illegal assistance to Gome in its shareholding changes, anti-monopoly review and so on. In return, the company’s director bribed him with 1.10 million yuan (USD 161.4 thousand); b), he helped the foreign companies buy villas at half of the prices and got 1.23 million yuan (USD 180.7 thousand) in these businesses; c), he accepted 3.87 million yuan (USD 566.9 thousand) to help a company avoid the financial investigation.

Guo Jingyi graduated from the Law School, Beijing University in 1986. The he began to work in the MOC (then called the Ministry of Foreign Trade). When he was arrested, he was the deputy director of the Rules and Regulations Department of the MOC.