On 26 March, Beijing time, the bribery case of Chen Xuyuan, former chairman of the Chinese Football Association, which attracted the attention of the whole people, ushered in the public verdict of the first instance, and in the end, the Intermediate People's Court of Huangshi City, Hubei Province, sentenced Chen Xuyuan to life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property for the crime of accepting bribes! At the same time, Chen Xuyuan was followed by three other former senior officials of the Chinese Football Association, who were Yu Hongchen, former vice chairman of the Chinese Football Association. Dong Zheng, the former general manager of the Chinese Super League, and Chen Yongliang, the former executive deputy secretary general of the Football Association, were sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption of more than 22.54 million yuan, more than 22 million yuan and more than 19.34 million yuan respectively. Fixed-term imprisonment of 8 years and fixed-term imprisonment of 14 years, that is to say, the total amount of bribes received by the four former senior officials of the Chinese Football Association who were tried together today exceeded 140 million yuan, with the release of CCTV News on the video of the trial scene, more details about the four people have also been exposed, among which Chen Xuyuan's wife and son have been confirmed by the public prosecutor and the procuratorate to be involved in the crime, and the two accepted bribes from many companies and individuals from February 2011 to June 2019, and the amount is particularly huge!
Let's first take a look at the final trial of Chen Xuyuan by the procuratorate, and the prosecutor claimed that between 2010 and 2023, Chen Xuyuan took advantage of the convenience and authority of the president and chairman of the Shanghai SIPG Group, as well as the head and chairman of the preparatory group for the general election of the Chinese Football Association, to illegally accept more than 81.03 million yuan from units and individuals, and the total number of bribes was as many as 217 times!
The first is the bribery behavior during the period when he was the chairman of the Chinese Football Association, which has been confirmed to have received bribes from a number of football clubs in the Chinese Super League, the largest amount of bribes from Hebei Huaxia Happiness Football Club, which has withdrawn from the Chinese Super League, from September 2019 to the second half of 2021, Chen Xuyuan received a total of 16 million yuan from Hebei Huaxia Happiness, and the second part came from Chen Xuyuan's tenure as president and chairman of Shanghai SIPG Group, and it was confirmed by the procuratorate investigation that Chen Xuyuan mainly accepted bribes from many companies and individuals through his wife and son during this periodThe amount is huge!
In this regard, Chen Xuyuan also made a public apology in court, he claimed that Chinese football is very backward, and the fans originally had high hopes for him to serve as the chairman of the Chinese Football Association, hoping to lead Chinese football to start from the foundation in a solid manner, so that fans can see the progress and hope of Chinese football, but Chen Xuyuan said that what he did was faceless to face the majority of fans, and hereby publicly apologized to fans across the country, hoping to get forgiveness from fans
The first detail is that the presiding judge of the Huangshi City Intermediate People's Court claimed in the verdict that "Chen Xuyuan has made meritorious contributions in exposing the criminal acts of others, which has been verified to be true after investigation; and he has pleaded guilty and repented, actively returned the stolen goods, and all the bribes and stolen money have been recovered, so he can be given a lighter punishment in accordance with the law." According to a number of official media outlets on social media, after Chen Xuyuan was arrested, he confessed to the fact that he had accepted bribes of more than 21 million yuan in the hands of the task force, and also took the initiative to confess the facts of bribes that the task force did not know
In addition, Chen Xuyuan also exposed a number of former Chinese Football Association officials who participated in corruption and bribery, so in view of Chen Xuyuan's meritorious performance such as exposing others, admitting guilt and repentance, and actively returning stolen goods, the court finally punished him lightly in accordance with the law and sentenced him to life imprisonment
The second detail is the fact that the public prosecutor claimed that Chen Xuyuan's wife and son had accepted bribes during his tenure as president and chairman of the Shanghai SIPG Group, and he also deliberately emphasized that "the amount was particularly huge." This has completely confirmed the facts of the crime of Chen Xuyuan's wife and son, so the key point is, where are Chen Xuyuan's wife and son now? Regrettably, according to Li Xuan, a well-known football media person, revealed on social media, Chen Xuyuan's son may have fled abroad! Previously, Li Xuan informed those indignant harbor fans on social media, claiming that he had the kung fu to scold him, so it was better to check where Chen Xuyuan's son was, and learned from the comment area that Chen Xuyuan's son was very likely to have fled abroad after feeling the news
However, then there was another piece of news, according to "Tiger Fight Football", Chen Xuyuan's son may be under investigation for suspected corruption, but the two news are not in conflict, because Li Xuan previously replied to netizens that he "can't run away", so the whole fact is very likely to be like this: In early February 2023, Chen Xuyuan's son fled abroad immediately after learning that his father was taken away by the task force for investigation and heard the news of him, but in the face of his father's advice and ironclad evidence, Chen Xuyuan's son was arrested and brought to justice
So what is going on with Chen Xuyuan's son "suspected of recruiting corruption" mentioned in "Tiger Fight Football"? This is about to mention another person, former Chinese Football Association Secretary-General Liu Yi, Chen Xuyuan's son and Liu Yi have been business partners for many years, and the two can be described as colluding interests, so after Chen Xuyuan and Liu Yi fell one after another in 2023, Chen Xuyuan's son was rumored to be "out of touch" As for whether he fled abroad or was controlled and captured by the task force, it is still unknown, but Chen Xuyuan's son's suspected recruitment corruption is obviously related to Liu Yi, the former secretary general of the Chinese Football Association, and the business dealings between the two are not limited to Chinese football, and even involve some projects of the Beijing Winter Olympics, and the financial accounts involved are absolutely astronomical
The interests of Chen Xuyuan's son and Liu Yi in Chinese football include the "1.7 billion adjustment fee" and "over 2 billion naturalization fee" that fans across the country have been studying What is so interesting is that the facts of Chen Xuyuan's son accepting bribes from many companies and individuals announced by the Intermediate People's Court of Huangshi City, Hubei Province this time are concentrated during Chen Xuyuan's tenure as president and chairman of Shanghai SIPG Group, so what the specific facts of Chen Xuyuan's son's crime are still need to wait for official news and the final trial to know
Obviously, this anti-corruption effort in Chinese football is absolutely unprecedented, and Chen Xuyuan has also become the first life sentence criminal in the history of anti-corruption in Chinese football, but this is just the beginning of the trial, and the former national football coach Li Tie, who has attracted much attention from the whole country, will also accept the final verdict!
Editor: Tang Bohu