The former head of a large state-backed Chinese bank was given a suspended death sentence for bribery on Monday, state media reported, the latest ruling in a crackdown on corruption in the finance sector.
China’s President Xi Jinping has waged a sweeping campaign against deep-seated official corruption since coming to power a decade ago, though critics say the policy has helped him purge political rivals.
On Monday Tian Huiyu, the former president of China Merchants Bank, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve — after which the punishment may be converted to life imprisonment.
Tian was found guilty of “accepting bribes”, state broadcaster CCTV reported, as well as decades of “abusing state-owned company staff power, trading on undisclosed information, insider trading, and leaking inside information”.
Tian first came under public investigation in April 2022, as the anti-graft campaign turned its focus to some of the country’s leading financiers.
In December Zhou Qingyu, a former vice president of the China Development Bank, was arrested under suspicion of accepting bribes.
In January, the former chairman of state-owned Chinese banking giant Everbright Group was arrested on suspicion of corruption and bribery.
Also last month, He Xingxiang — a former top executive at China Development Bank — was given 20 years in jail for bribery.
