Ex-Gansu vice-governor convicted of bribery, insider trading

Zhao Jinyun, former vice-governor of Gansu province, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery and insider trading, a court in Tianjin announced on Tuesday.

According to the ruling by the Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court, the 60-year-old Gansu native was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 3 million yuan ($429,540) for bribery, and received a five-year prison term and a fine of 500,000 yuan for insider trading.

The court combined the penalties for both crimes, imposing a 15-year sentence for Zhao along with a fine of 3.5 million yuan. Her illicit gains and related interests were also ordered to be turned over to the State treasury.

From the first half of 2005 to October 2024, Zhao, either independently or with her husband Bao Donghong, used their positions in Gansu and Shaanxi provinces to seek benefits for individuals and departments in matters such as construction project contracting, applying for mineral exploration permits, resolving tax issues, and job adjustments. In return, Zhao accepted bribes totaling over 54.09 million yuan.

During that period, Zhao held several key positions in Gansu, including deputy head of the provincial land and resources department's cultivated land protection division, deputy general manager of the provincial highway, aviation and tourism investment group, chairwoman of the Gansu Airport Operation and Management Co, Ltd, and vice-governor of the province.

Bao also held multiple important positions in the province during the same period, including mayor of Dunhuang, deputy head of the provincial development and reform commission, head of the provincial tax service department, and head of the Shaanxi provincial tax service department. He is being handled in a separate case.

Additionally, the court found that from June 2018 to March 2022, Zhao used non-public information obtained in her work to repeatedly purchase stocks through securities accounts controlled by her relatives and friends. The total transaction amount exceeded 7.02 million yuan. After selling these stocks, she illegally profited more than 300,000 yuan.

The court said Zhao's actions constitute the crimes of bribery and insider trading but granted her leniency because some bribes were not actually received, and she pleaded guilty, voluntarily disclosed some bribes not yet known to investigators, admitted to the majority of insider trading gains, and actively returned illicit proceeds.

Public records show Zhao joined the Jiusan Society in 1999. In December 2022, she became vice-governor of Gansu. Before that, she had worked in her home province.

In October 2024, she was placed under investigation for suspected serious duty-related violations. In April 2025, she was removed from public office. Three months later, she was indicted on charges of bribery and insider trading. The court publicly heard her case in October 2022.