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China Corruption

Tom O'Byrne reports Chinese courts have handed down death sentences -- three of them suspended -- to 14 people convicted in a massive corruption scandal. The defendants included Communist party and senior government officials. State television showed pictures of cars, jewelry, piles of cash and more, confiscated from a smuggling operation that cost the government -- according to official estimates -- more than three-billion dollars in lost import duties. A total of 84 people were convicted in the case, which was so large that it was divided among courts in five southeastern cities. The government has been unusually forthcoming about the case, possibly to convince any angry citizenry that the government is committed to putting an end to official corruption, a problem throughout the country.

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