The first-instance verdict was announced. The defendant Zhang Jianqiang was found guilty of taking bribes, and sentenced to 12 years in prison with a fine of 250,000 yuan. The parties involved expressed satisfaction with the verdict in court and would not appeal, according to the gambling forum.
Relevant case details:
Name: Zhang Jianqiang
Position: Secretary-General of the Referee Committee of the Chinese Football Association, Director of the Women's Department
Time/Location of Trial: December 19, Intermediate People's Court of Tieling City, Liaoning Province
Charges: Bribery, non-government employee bribery
The People's Procuratorate of Tieling City, Liaoning Province accused that from April 1997 to October 2009, while serving as Deputy Director of the Amateur Department, Deputy Director of the Comprehensive Department, and Director of the Women's Department of the Football Management Center, the defendant Zhang Jianqiang used his position managing referees and women's football work to seek benefits for relevant units in terms of referee selection and game refereeing, receiving a total of 238 million yuan in bribes on 24 separate occasions from multiple football clubs including Shaanxi Guoli, Shandong Luneng, Shanghai Greenland申花, Jiangsu Sainty, Yunnan Hongta, Shaanxi Guoli, and Shenyang Huachen (formerly Shenyang Hailion) as well as two provincial and municipal football sports management centers. In the 13 charges, one charge against Zhang Jianqiang was non-government employee bribery involving an amount of 350,000 yuan. In November 2003, before the match between Shanghai SVA Wenhua Football Team and Shanghai Zhongyuan Football Team in the National First Division Football League (Group A), Shanghai SVA Wenhua Football Club sought out Zhang Jianqiang, who had good relations with Lu Jun, the main referee of this match, through Guo Feng, asking Zhang Jianqiang to smooth things over with Lu Jun, hoping that Lu Jun would give special attention to Shanghai SVA Wenhua Football Team during the game refereeing process, and promised benefits in return. In the end, both Zhang Jianqiang and Lu Jun received 350,000 yuan each.