Sentenced to death on corruption charges, the former head of China's State Food and Drug Administration plans to appeal, the South China Morning Post reported. Zheng Xiaoyu is only the fourth senior official since the Cultural Revolution to get the death penalty. He was accussed of receiving bribes and gifts totalling US$840,000 in exchange for approving drugs not ready for the market. However, the verdict has already been approved by Beijing and the chances of success of any appeal are low, observers told the newspaper. "The chances of him not dying are zero," Zhuo Xiaoqin, a Beijing lawyer and consultant to the Ministry of Health, told the newspaper. "He was causing immense health hazards." If Zheng loses his appeal, he will become the first senior official executed during the presidency of Hu Jintao.
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