Pharmaceutical Bribery Case: Briber Sentenced to 10 Years and Fined a Million

On January 7, the People's Court of Longma Tan District, Luzhou City, Sichuan Province publicly tried a case of commercial bribery in the pharmaceutical field. Unlike previous cases, the defendant in this trial was the briber. This case originated from a corruption ring at the Luzhou City Naxi District People's Hospital.

The defendant Li sold medical equipment and supplies to the Naxi District People's Hospital from 2011 to 2023 and bribed the hospital's former president Ding Youming, former party secretary Yi Xianshu, and former vice president Xiong Dianhui, totaling over 25 million yuan. Notably, most of Li's bribes were not paid directly to the hospital leaders but were held by him, amounting to over 23 million yuan.

The court found that some of Li's bribery actions were unsuccessful and that he actively returned the stolen money; therefore, he received a lighter punishment. The court sentenced Li to ten years in prison and imposed a fine of 1 million yuan.

The Luzhou City Naxi District People's Hospital, established in 1943, is a national class-three secondary comprehensive hospital with 500 designated beds. In July and August 2023, the hospital's president, party secretary, and vice president were successively investigated. Xiong Dianhui was sentenced to eight years in prison for bribery, while the cases of the other two involved parties have not yet been publicly disclosed. In this series of cases, the punishment for the bribers in the pharmaceutical field has been more severe than that for the bribed.

Xiong Dianhui, the former vice president of the Naxi District People's Hospital, began accepting bribes from Li after being promoted to vice president and overseeing the procurement of medical supplies in 2011. Before the 2012 Spring Festival, Xiong first accepted a bribe of 30,000 yuan from Li. Subsequently, Li's company was selected as the hospital's supplier of medical supplies. The two became increasingly close, with Xiong receiving 3% of the sales amount as kickbacks every year. To evade supervision, Li frequently changed the company name, supplying materials to the hospital under the names of 11 different companies, and bribed Xiong a total of 2.26 million yuan 17 times between 2012 and 2021.

In a corruption documentary filmed by the Sichuan Disciplinary Inspection Commission, Xiong revealed his mindset regarding accepting bribes. He believed that due to work relationships, he had met many business owners, but felt they lacked education and qualifications yet could live extravagantly, while he could not enjoy the same lifestyle on his normal salary; thus, he began to exploit his power for personal gain.

Sichuan's procuratorial department found that between 2012 and 2022, Xiong illegally accepted cash from others in medical supply procurement 60 times. He hid the proceeds of his bribes in a vacant old house in the hospital's staff quarters, using them for entertainment and banquets, spending hundreds of thousands of yuan each year. In August 2023, Xiong was investigated. In February 2024, he was dismissed from public office; in July of the same year, he was sentenced to eight years in prison and fined 1.4 million yuan for bribery.

Although Xiong Dianhui was the core figure of the corruption in the hospital's procurement of supplies, his ability to accept kickbacks was also related to the instructions from superiors. Xiong confessed that he was introduced to Li by the then-president Ding Youming.

Ding Youming and Yi Xianshu enjoy high reputations in the local medical field. Ding worked at the Luzhou City Naxi District People's Hospital since 1991 and served as president from 2003 until he was investigated. Under his leadership, the hospital successfully passed the secondary review and initiated the creation of a class-three secondary comprehensive hospital in 2016. Ding also established a district-level imaging consultation center and identified orthopedics and obstetrics as city-level clinical key specialties. In 2017, the hospital achieved total revenue of 198 million yuan. Ding was not only a leader in hospital management but also a renowned surgeon who performed numerous surgeries and received multiple honors.

Yi Xianshu, another investigated party secretary of the hospital, is also a senior orthopedic doctor and a city-level discipline leader, recognized as a top talent in Naxi District. In July 2023, Ding Youming was reported by the Sichuan Disciplinary Inspection Commission for investigation, marking the exposure of the hospital’s corruption ring. In the month following Ding’s investigation, Yi Xianshu and Xiong Dianhui attended an event together, pledging to practice medicine with integrity. Shortly thereafter, both were investigated.