Beijing: Liu Liange, the former chairman of the Bank of China, has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for corruption and illegal loan practices. A court in Jinan, in eastern Shandong Province, found that Liu accepted bribes totaling over 121 million yuan (about USD 16.8 million).
The Bank of China is a state-owned Chinese multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Beijing, China. It is one of the “big four” banks in China.
The court’s ruling also included life-long removal of Liu’s political rights, confiscation of all his personal assets, and the return of his illegal gains to the state. The charges revealed that Liu used his positions at both the Export-Import Bank of China and Bank of China to help others with loan approvals, project deals, and staffing arrangements in exchange for bribes.
In addition to the bribery, Liu was found guilty of approving loans worth over 3.32 billion yuan to unqualified companies, resulting in a loss of more than 190 million yuan (around USD 27 million). Liu is the second high-ranking Chinese banker to be punished for corruption in recent years.
On November 20, the Communist Party of China also expelled Lou Wenlong, former vice president of the Agricultural Bank of China, for similar corruption offenses. Lou was accused of resisting investigations and attending lavish banquets funded by public money, which could have affected his duties.
Meanwhile, another corruption case has surfaced involving Wang Yixin, the former vice governor of Heilongjiang Province. Wang is accused of taking large bribes while in office in Hainan and Shanxi provinces. The National Commission of Supervision is investigating the case, which was filed by the Heze Municipal People’s Procuratorate.
Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, China has carried out a major anti-corruption campaign, leading to the punishment of over a million officials, including two former Defence Ministers and many top military officers.
