China’s former agriculture minister Tang Renjian has been handed a death sentence with a two-year reprieve on allegations of corruption and bribery.

‎The People’s Court of Changchun in northeast Jilin Province stated, according to Xinhua News Agency, on Sunday.

‎Mr Renjian was accused of collecting property and cash bribes totalling over $38 million between 2007 and 2024.

‎The court said that Mr Renjian had “caused severe losses to the interest of the state and its people, therefore warranted a death penalty”.

‎It added that the former minister himself had confessed to the crime, returned illicit gains, and expressed remorse for his actions, mitigating a more severe verdict such as an immediate execution.

‎The former Gansu governor’s death sentence would be suspended for two years as a result of a reprieve, based on a criminal punishment code found in chapter 5 (death penalty), sections 48, 50, and 51 of the criminal law of China.

‎A reprieve would give the 63-year-old politician a chance to either serve life imprisonment or a fixed term based on meritorious behaviour during the period of his suspended sentence.

‎His sentencing is the latest among other cases of high-profile individuals who have been handed capital punishments by President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign for similar offences.