Prominent property tycoon Ren Zhiqiang was sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined 4.2 million yuan (S$844,000) on Tuesday, Sep. 22, 2020.

Chinese tycoon sentenced to 18 years in jail

Ren, 69, a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, faced prosecution charges pertaining to corruption, bribery, embezzlement of public funds, and abuse of power as state-owned company personnel, by the Beijing court.

According to a statement published by the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court, Ren had taken advantage of his position between 2013 to 2017 to embezzle more than 110 million yuan in public funds, received more than 1.25 million yuan in bribes, abused his power and caused particularly heavy losses of more than 100 million yuan to a state-owned holding company, reported Chinese state media Global Times.

Ren accepted the sentence and did not appeal.

According to South China Morning Post, Ren had openly criticised the CCP's leadership and published articles that spoke against the "Four Cardinal Principles", regarding the unchallenged leadership of the Chinese party.

His most recent article, which has been circulating on the Internet since March 2020, criticised the Chinese government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also referred to Xi as an "emperor" and a "clown" who directed China's fight against Covid-19 in his article, according to SCMP.

Ren, a rare elite critic of CCP

Ren, whose father was the vice-minister of commerce and part of the first generation of revolutionaries who founded the People's Republic of China, was previously a member of the CCP.

Due to his connections and wealth, he held large influence both among the business and political elites in China.

However, his position did not stop him from being a long-standing critic of the Chinese government.

In March, Ren mysteriously disappeared after he was taken away from his sister's house in Beijing by party officials for investigation, reported SCMP.

He was later handed over to authorities in July and subsequently expelled from the CCP.

According to CNN, Ren's party membership was put on probation in 2016 after he questioned on social media about Xi's demand that Chinese state media must stay loyal to the CCP.

His Weibo account, which had more than 30 million followers, was also suspended after the incident.

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