Chinese legal community asks: where is the line on death penalty for corrupt officials?

China may see more death sentences handed down to corrupt officials in the future as President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption efforts reach into lucrative sectors and the spoils of corruption rise, according to Chinese law practitioners and observers.

The Chinese legal community’s latest discussion about standards for the death penalty come after a court in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region upheld the death sentence of a local official who pleaded guilty to pocketing more than 3 billion yuan (US$422 million) in total.

On August 27, Inner Mongolia’s regional high court dismissed an appeal by Li Jianping, 64, former party secretary of the economic and technological development zone in Hohhot, the region’s capital city, according to its website.

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Li’s death sentence is awaiting final approval by the Supreme People’s Court in keeping with a practice observed since 2006.