A Chinese court has sentenced a former senior local government official to death after finding him guilty of accepting bribes worth more than 2.21 billion yuan (approximately $325 million), one of the country's most significant corruption cases in recent years.

The verdict was delivered on Monday by the Intermediate People's Court in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, against Yang Youlin, the former executive deputy director of the administrative committee of the Nanjing Development Zone.

In addition to the death sentence, the court stripped Yang of his political rights for life and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets.

According to the court, Yang was convicted on multiple charges, including bribery, embezzlement, offering bribes, misappropriation of public funds, abuse of power, and money laundering.

Investigators found that between 1993 and 2023, Yang exploited various government positions he held in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, to secure illegal benefits for companies and individuals. These included facilitating engineering contracts, business operations, land transactions, and financing arrangements in exchange for huge sums of money and valuable gifts.

The court heard that Yang amassed illicit wealth exceeding 2.21 billion yuan during the three-decade period.

Prosecutors also established that he conspired with others to fraudulently obtain government funds, bribed public officials to gain improper advantages, and diverted funds from state-owned enterprises for private business activities.

Authorities further accused him of unlawfully approving land demolition and development projects, actions that reportedly triggered serious social consequences. He was also found to have illegally refunded land transfer fees, resulting in substantial financial losses to the state.

To conceal the proceeds of his crimes, Yang allegedly channelled bribery funds through companies under his control, disguising the source of the money through various financial transactions.

In its ruling, the court described Yang's crimes as exceptionally severe, noting that the scale of corruption, the damage inflicted on public interests, and the social impact of his actions warranted the harshest punishment under Chinese law.

"The amount of bribes accepted was extraordinarily large, the circumstances were especially serious, and the losses caused to the state and the people were exceptionally grave," the court stated.

Although Yang provided information that helped authorities uncover criminal offences committed by others, the court ruled that his cooperation was insufficient to offset the seriousness of his own crimes.

The case was heard in public sessions on March 18 and April 28, during which prosecutors and defence lawyers presented evidence and arguments before the court.

Yang pleaded guilty during the proceedings and expressed remorse in his final statement before sentencing.

The ruling underscores China's continued crackdown on corruption, with authorities maintaining a tough stance against public officials found guilty of abusing their positions for personal gain.