BEIJING, Nov. 30 — He once was one of China’s richest and most politically connected businessmen, a real estate tycoon who had started out selling noodles. But today, Zhou Zhengyi was sentenced to 16 years in prison, the latest powerful Shanghai figure to fall from grace.
Mr. Zhou, 45, stood inside Shanghai Municipal No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court as a judge pronounced him guilty on five charges, including misappropriation of funds, bribery and forging tax receipts, state media reported. His company also was fined 3.35 million yuan, or about $450,000.
Mr. Zhou’s career arc spoke to the nexus of money and political power in China, especially in Shanghai, the financial capital. He was closely connected to Shanghai’s former Communist Party boss, Chen Liangyu, who was sacked last year in a sweeping corruption investigation ordered by President Hu Jintao.
The corruption investigation struck directly at the Shanghai political machine, which was linked to the former Chinese leader, Jiang Zemin, and had resisted many of the policies put forward by Mr. Hu and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Mr. Chen, the sacked party boss, was a protégé of Mr. Jiang, himself a former Shanghai party leader.
Mr. Zhou, the property magnate, owed his rise to the Shanghai clique. During the 1990s, Mr. Zhou became one of the city’s biggest real estate developers as the city was in the midst of a stunning run of growth. By 2002, Forbes magazine estimated his wealth at $320 million.
But Mr. Zhou became an early target as the central government began probing into malfeasance in Shanghai. He was detained in June 2003, a few months after Mr. Hu became president and Communist Party chief.
He was convicted on financial charges and sentenced to three years in prison. By the time Mr. Zhou was released in May 2006, Mr. Hu had launched a new corruption investigation ultimately aimed at Mr. Chen. Five months later, Mr. Zhou was detained again.
Investigators from Beijing concluded that Shanghai officials had diverted 3.7 billion yuan, or about $494 million, from the city’s social security fund to investment corporations controlled by well-connected businessmen. Another tycoon, Zhang Rongkun, once ranked No. 16 on the Forbes list of China’s richest, has already been arrested on charges linked to the social security scandal, state media reported.
State media did not specify if Mr. Zhou’s latest conviction is specifically linked to the social security scandal, or whether the charges are connected to another incident. But the 16-year prison term suggests that Mr. Zhou has run out of political patrons.
During his previous, shorter stint in prison, Mr. Zhou enjoyed many privileges. Four of his jailors have been convicted of accepting bribes in exchange for special treatment, including access to a telephone and extra visits from friends.
Mr. Chen, who has been expelled from the Communist Party, has yet to go on trial for the charges against him.