Liu Liange, the former chairman of the Bank of China, was sentenced to death on Tuesday after being found guilty of corruption and illegally issuing loans. However, the sentence will be suspended for two years. A court in Jinan City, Shandong Province, in eastern China, stated that Liu had accepted bribes amounting to more than 121 million yuan (around $16.8 million).
According to a report by the state news agency Xinhua, the court also ruled that Liu would be deprived of his political rights for life, all his private property would be confiscated, and any illicit gains would be recovered and deposited into the government treasury.
The court found that Liu used his various positions at the Export-Import Bank of China and the Bank of China to accept bribes in exchange for facilitating loans, project cooperation, and personnel arrangements. In return, he received millions in bribes. Additionally, he was found guilty of deliberately violating regulations by issuing loans worth more than 3.32 billion yuan to ineligible companies.
This resulted in a loss of approximately $27 million for the banks. Liu is the second major Chinese banker to be punished for corruption in recent times. Earlier, on November 20, the ruling Communist Party of China expelled former Agriculture Bank of China Vice President Lu Wenlong for corruption.
On the same day, public prosecution was also initiated against Wang Yixin, the former deputy governor of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, for allegedly accepting bribes. According to Xinhua’s report, prosecutors have accused Wang of abusing his positions in Hainan and Shanxi provinces to benefit others in exchange for large bribes.
Since coming to power in 2012, Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a large-scale anti-corruption campaign, punishing over one million officials, including two former defence ministers and dozens of senior military officers.
