Onlookers wait to enter Jiangxi higher people's court for the trial of Zhou Wenbin, former president of a key university in east China's Jiangxi Province, Dec. 21, 2016. (Photo/Chinanews.com)
Zhou Wenbin, former president of a key university in east China's Jiangxi Province, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribery on Wednesday.
According to the second trial verdict issued by the Jiangxi higher people's court, personal assets worth 1 million yuan (143,874 U.S. dollars) should be confiscated from him, and the bribes he took should be recovered.
Zhou was found guilty of accepting cash in various currencies worth 19.7 million yuan (about 2.8 million U.S. dollars) as well as shopping cards worth 24,000 yuan, and a Cartier watch worth 38,600 yuan.
On December 2015, Zhou was sentenced to life in prison for bribery and embezzlement of public funds by the Intermediate People's Court of Nanchang City, capital of Jiangxi.
According to the Jiangxi higher people's court, the first trial conviction for public funds embezzlement was inappropriate, and evidence was lacking for the conviction for bribery worth 1.6 million yuan.
The court said Zhou showed a good attitude when confessing and repenting during the second trial, and most of the bribe money has been recovered, so a lenient sentence was given.
Zhou, born in 1960, became president of Nanchang University, the top university in the province, in late 2002. He was arrested in 2013.
