Another university head falls to corruption crackdown

Quartz 09 January 2016

According to local reports, Chinese university president Zhou Wenbin was sentenced to a lifetime in jail for taking bribes and embezzlement, in a court in southeast Jianxi province on Tuesday 29 December, writes Zheping Huang for Quartz.

Zhou, who headed Nanchang University since 2002, is the latest higher education official to be caught up in China’s ongoing corruption crackdown. So far this year, 32 university officials have been accused of taking bribes or other corruption.

Zhou (55) was convicted of taking more than CNY20 million (US$3 million) in bribes from contractors, Xinhua reported, citing the court verdict. The state media report also includes excerpts from a ‘letter of remorse’ Zhou allegedly wrote which paints him as sexist and power-hungry. Zhou pleaded innocent before the court and plans to file an appeal. In a separate letter distributed by his lawyer, Zhou called his trial “an unjust judgement form substance to procedure”.
Full report on the Quartz site

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