Beijing, Feb 6 (EFE).- A Chinese court has given the death with a two-year reprieve to a former head of China Mercantile Bank for crimes, including taking bribes and abuse of power.
The Changde Intermediate People’s Court in Hunan province also found Tian Huiyu guilty using undisclosed information for trading, insider trading, and leaking insider information, the official Xinhua agency reported in the last few hours..
A suspended death sentence is common in China for corruption cases. If the convict does not commit new crimes and has appropriate behavior during the period in which the suspension is in force, his sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment.
The court found Tian guilty of accepting bribes worth more than 210 million yuan ($29.3 million) between 1997 and 2022, when he held senior positions in several state financial entities.
Tian was convicted of abusing his power as chairman of CMB, one of the country’s largest banks, to interfere in the business decisions of its subsidiaries, causing “serious harm” to national interests.
The court also found Tian guilty of using privileged and confidential information to carry out illegal stock trading, obtaining a profit of almost 300 million yuan ($29 million), as well as disclosing such information to third parties.
The judge considered that the acts committed by Tian were “extremely serious,” “negatively affected society,” and “caused enormous harm to the state and the people.”
According to Xinhua, Tian confessed to his crimes, expressed remorse, and cooperated with the authorities to return the embezzled money, earning some leniency from the court.
Since assuming power in 2012, President Xi Jinping has initiated an anti-corruption campaign, resulting in the conviction of several senior Chinese officials for accepting million-dollar bribes.
While this campaign, one of Xi’s flagship programs, has uncovered significant cases of corruption, some critics suggest it may also be used to derail the political careers of his rivals.
The Central Commission for Discipline and Supervision of the Communist Party of China (C), the anti-corruption arm of the ruling party, recently reported that China will sanction 610,000 officials for corruption in 2023. EFE
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