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Zhou was once seen as not only a potent rival of Xi but as the center of a vast patronage network stemming from his separate stints as an executive in the stateowned oil industryparty boss in the southwestern province of Sichuan and head of state security The case involves senior folks from the petroleum industrythe state security apparatus with many corruption scandalssaid Willy Laman expert on Chinas elite politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong The authorities wanted to avoid having them appear in the public Lam said Zhou had been expected to receive a suspended sentenceand that the life sentence indicated that Xi wanted to compromise and not antagonize any party members who had been allied with the former security czar | |
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President Xi does not want to make too many enemiesLam said Xi has the battle and he does not want to go too far Authorities also did not want to see Zhou put up a feisty fight in an open courtLam said His expression of contrition on state TV also helped quell the notion of continued factional fighting at the partys uppermost echelon Zhou was sentenced to life in prison for accepting what the court said were particularly huge bribes He was given lesser terms on the abuse of power and state secrets chargesand was ordered to serve his sentences concurrently Zhous sentence also mandated the seizure of all his personal ets |
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