wǔ hàn武汉qián前shì zhǎng市长zhōu xiān wàng周先旺yīn因shòu huì受贿bèi被pàn xíng判刑
Former Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang was sentenced by a court to 14 years in prison and fined 5 million yuan for taking bribes.
The court found that from 2003 to 2025, he used his position to help some organizations and individuals obtain construction projects, operate businesses, or get government approvals, and accepted money and goods worth more than 60 million yuan.
The court said that the amount of bribes was especially large. However, after he came under investigation, he admitted his wrongdoing, pleaded guilty, and voluntarily returned money and goods, so he received a lighter sentence.
Zhou Xianwang drew attention because he was the mayor of Wuhan when the COVID-19 outbreak first began.
He once said at the time that information about the outbreak had not been made public quickly enough.
However, this sentence is only related to bribery and has nothing to do with the pandemic.