Sentenced to Death
Former Official Convicted of Taking Drug Companies’ Bribes
A former department head at China’s drug regulation agency was sentenced to death Friday on charges of accepting $307,000 in bribes and neglecting official duties. Cao Wenzhuang, a department director at the State Food and Drug Administration, was given the death sentence with a two-year reprieve. Although the sentence was unusually harsh given the charges, such suspended death sentences in China are usually commuted to life in prison if the convict is deemed to have reformed.Cao, 45, who oversaw the pharmaceutical registration department, had been secretary to Zheng Xiaoyu, the head of the agency, in the 1980s. In May, Zheng was sentenced to death for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines, including an antibiotic blamed for at least 10 deaths. In its judgment, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court said the death penalty was warranted given the huge bribes involved, and his refusal to confess . . . and reluctance to return the money. But he was given a two-year reprieve because he provided evidence that helped with the investigation of other cases.
