Former COFCO executive stands trial for corruption, abuse of power

TAIYUAN, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — Zhou Zheng, former deputy general manager of China’s leading food trader COFCO Corporation, stood trial on Thursday on charges of bribe-taking, embezzlement, and abuse of power by state-owned enterprise personnel.
During the trial at a court in Yuncheng, north China’s Shanxi Province, prosecutors accused Zhou of taking advantage of his various positions from 1998 to 2023 to assist others in matters such as project contracting, employment and job promotion, illegally accepting bribes worth over 6.05 million yuan (849,480 U.S. dollars) in return.
Zhou was also accused of taking advantage of his positions to embezzle public property worth over 2.41 million yuan between 2003 and 2021. From 2013 to 2014, he leveraged his power to advance certain projects in violation of rules, resulting in a loss of over 101 million yuan in state-owned assets.
Zhou pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his closing statement.
The verdict will be announced in due course. ■