Former defence exec Tan Ruisong given death sentence for ‘exceptional’ corruption
Former AVIC chief Tan Ruisong has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption.
Photo: Weibo/ 长安街知事 Tan Ruisong, the former boss of China’s top military aviation company, has been given a suspended death sentence for reaping over 613 million yuan (US$89 million) from bribes and insider trading.
Tan, 64, was the chairman and Communist Party secretary of state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) – China’s leading military aircraft maker – from 2018 until his retirement in March 2023.
He is one of the most prominent defence sector executives to come under investigation in President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign, which has cut a swathe through the top ranks of the military-industrial complex.
The Dalian Intermediate People’s Court handed down the sentence with a two-year reprieve on Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday, adding that all of Tan’s personal property had been confiscated.
Tan pleaded guilty to various crimes, including taking bribes, embezzlement, insider trading and leaking confidential information from 1998 to 2024, when he served in a range of top jobs in AVIC and its Harbin subsidiary.
According to the report, he took about 90 million yuan in public funds from 2003 to 2010, while he was AVIC’s assistant general manager.
He also helped other parties pursue corporate mergers and acquisitions as well as project contracts.
From March 2012 to March 2023, Tan also used insider information to “repeatedly engage” in securities transactions or leaked that information to others for use in securities trades.
The court said Tan’s crimes involved an “exceptionally large amount” and caused “exceptionally serious losses” to the state and the people.
The insider trading was “particularly serious”, it said, but because he expressed remorse, “truthfully confessed his crimes” and actively returned all the proceeds of embezzlement and bribery, Tan was given a two-year reprieve on the death sentence.
The court said the funds Tan embezzled were recovered and returned to the affected companies, and all the proceeds of his bribery and any interest accrued were confiscated and turned over to the national treasury.
It would continue to recover Tan’s illegal gains from insider trading.
AVIC is at the heart of China’s air defence sector, overseeing the production either directly or through its subsidiaries of the J-20 and J-35 stealth fighters as well as older jets such as the J-16.
It has also taken a hard
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