The son of Zhou Yongkang, China’s disgraced former security and energy tsar, has been fined an eye-catching $54m and sentenced to 18 years in jail, in an unusual acknowledgment of the wealth that can be extracted by officials’ relatives.
Zhou Bin, 44, was detained in 2013, a few months before his father was caught in the “tiger hunt” of corrupt officials pursued by Xi Jinping, China’s president. Zhou Yongkang, who was once among China’s most powerful figures, had supported a power bid by Bo Xilai, a politician and political rival to Mr Xi whose own high-flying political career was ended by the tiger hunt.
State television reported that the father and son amassed Rmb98m ($15m) in bribes, although Beijing has not publicly valued the businesses Zhou Bin was able to enter thanks to Zhou Yongkang’s influence, which includes oil subcontracts in Iraq and China.