Chinese soldiers practice honor guard duties prior to the visit of Indonesia's President Joko Widodo for a welcoming ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 26, 2015. Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to step up a crackdown on corruption in China's military. Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI. |
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BEIJING, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A Chinese general who once owned a gold statue of Mao Zedong and crates of expensive liquor was given a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
Gu Junshan, the former deputy logistics chief of the People's Liberation Army, was charged with embezzlement, bribery and misuse of state funds. The South China Morning Post reported on Monday suspended death sentences in China are usually commuted to life imprisonment, which means Gu has escaped the death penalty.
China's military court ordered the confiscation of Gu's personal assets in an effort to recover his illegal funds. Bloomberg reported Gu's sentence is the latest measure in President Xi Jinping's effort to wipe out corruption in the Chinese military.
During his term of office, Gu had amassed an astounding amount of wealth that filled four trucks and took 20 paramilitary officers two nights to confiscate, according to Chinese news outlet Caixin.
Items found in Gu's house included the gold statue of Mao, a gold washbasin, a gold model boat and crates of mao-tai, an expensive Chinese liquor.
The alcohol was stored in a basement passageway that linked Gu's mansion to the homes of his two brothers -- but the bottles had remained untouched, as Gu had not lived at the location for years.
Gu accumulated wealth through the sale of military land, and had collected 6 percent of $321.8 million in land sales in Shanghai. He also owned dozens of apartments in Beijing that were 1,800 square feet or bigger, The South China Morning Post reported. Gu shared his illicit gains with his superior Xu Caihou, gifting a $3.2 million debit card as a wedding present to Xu's daughter, according to Chinese reports.
Xu died in March of bladder cancer before he could face trial.
