Hu Wenming Photo: csic.com.cn

Hu Wenming, former chairman of China Shipbuilding Industry Company Limited (CSIC), was sentenced to 13 years in prison and fined 5 million yuan ($699,700) for accepting bribes and abuse of power by a court in Shanghai on Tuesday. 

The ruling from the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People's Court capped a multi-year high-profile case involving Hu, who is also widely known as the former chief commander of China's aircraft carrier program. Hu was first under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law in May 2020, expelled from the Communist Party of China in early January 2021, and was arrested in January 2021. 

Before retiring from his post at the CSIC, Hu had a long career in several of China's top state-owned companies, including military aircraft developer and manufacturer Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), armored vehicle and munition developer China North Industries Group Corporation and China State Shipbuilding Corporation, which later merged with the CSIC, according to previous reports by the People's Daily.

As the chief commander of China's aircraft carrier program, Hu oversaw the development of China's first domestically developed aircraft carrier and also the country's second, later known as the Shandong. 

According to the ruling on Tuesday, while holding various positions at the AVIC and CSIC between 2001 and 2020, Hu abused his power in various aspects, including helping others gain contracts, and illegally collecting 59.86 million yuan, around 9.95 million yuan of which was not obtained in the end.

Between 2013 and 2015, as the Party chief and chairman of CSIC, Hu accepted brides, and during the asset reorganization process of the group's subsidies, he deliberately violated state-owned asset management responsibilities, causing particularly heavy losses.

The court further ruled that Hu accepted a particularly huge amount of bribes, engaged in malpractice for favoritism and abused his power, causing particularly heavy losses to national interests.