Zhou Zheng, the former vice general manager of COFCO, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in the first instance for accepting bribes and abusing his power.

Source: People's Daily

After being investigated for 14 months, Zhou Zheng, the former vice president of COFCO Group Co., Ltd. and the chairman of Joy City Property Limited, has finally been sentenced in the first instance.

According to public information, on January 14, 2025, the Yuncheng City Court in Shanxi Province publicly pronounced the first-instance verdict. The defendant Zhou Zheng was sentenced to seven years in prison and a fine of 400,000 yuan for the crime of accepting bribes; five years in prison and a fine of 300,000 yuan for the crime of embezzlement; and three years and six months in prison for the crime of abusing the power of a state-owned company employee. The combined sentence is twelve years in prison and a fine of 700,000 yuan. The property and proceeds obtained from Zhou Zheng's crimes will be recovered in accordance with the law and turned over to the national treasury or returned to the victimized units.

Zhou Zheng, born in 1963 in Huangmei, Hubei Province, once served as a member of the Party Group and deputy general manager of COFCO Group Co., Ltd., and the chairman and executive director of Joy City Property Limited. He was investigated for disciplinary violations on November 8, 2023, and underwent disciplinary review and supervision investigation. He was expelled from the Party on May 9, 2024, and was arrested according to law on May 29.

Zhou Zheng's resume, Source: Baidu Baike

The public pronouncement of the first-instance verdict by the Yuncheng City Court in Shanxi Province shows that from 1998 to 2023, Zhou Zheng took advantage of his positions as the general manager of Hangzhou COFCO Meite Container Co., Ltd., the general manager of COFCO Packaging Co., Ltd., the Party Secretary and Chairman of COFCO Land Co., Ltd., the Party Secretary and Chairman of Joy City Holdings Group Co., Ltd., and a member of the Party Group and deputy general manager of COFCO Group Co., Ltd. to provide assistance to relevant units and individuals in matters such as business contracting, personnel recruitment, and job promotion, illegally accepting property totaling more than 6.05 million yuan in equivalent.

From 2003 to 2021, Zhou Zheng used his position to defraud public funds by means of falsely reporting housing rewards, falsely listing expenses, and falsely increasing bonuses, illegally occupying a total of more than 2.41 million yuan of public property.

From 2013 to 2014, Zhou Zheng used his position to abuse his power, violated regulations to promote relevant projects, causing a total loss of state-owned assets of more than 101 million yuan.

The Intermediate People's Court of Yuncheng City believes that the defendant Zhou Zheng's actions constitute the crimes of accepting bribes, embezzlement, and abusing the power of a state-owned company employee. Zhou Zheng's amount of bribery is particularly huge, the amount of embezzlement is huge, and as a state-owned company employee, he abused his power, causing particularly significant losses to the national interests, and all should be punished according to law.