On video: Chinese President Xi Jinping landed in Moscow/Reuters
A Chinese court sentenced Hui-Yu Tian, former president of China Merchants Bank and former right-hand man of the country's former economic minister, to death after being accused of bribery and insider trading.
The People's Court of Hunan Province sentenced Tian to death and previously to two years in prison.
After two years in prison, the judges can soften the sentence and convert it to life imprisonment.
Along with the conviction for bribery and insider trading, Tian was also found guilty of other charges that include abusing his position in government companies and leaking insider information.
The court ruled that Tian made more than $41 million from the stock market while using confidential information to which he had access.
Others to whom Tian passed on information earned an additional $1.1 million through him.
In addition, he received $30 million in bribes for helping people and organizations get loans, jobs or businesses.
Tian.
Served as Bank President and Secretary to Senior Government/Screenshot, China Merchants Bank
Tian is a long-time executive in the world of the Chinese economy, he has worked for more than three decades in some of the largest state-owned financial institutions in China, including the second largest bank in the country - China Construction Bank, and China Cinda Asset Management.
In the 1990s, Tian served as the secretary of Wang Chishan, a senior government official who previously served as Vice President of China and at the time headed the China Construction Bank.
In April 2022, Tian was removed from his senior position at the bank and a few days later, China's Central Commission for Supervision and Discipline, which serves as an oversight arm of the government, announced that he was under investigation for "serious violations of discipline and law."
In October 2022 he was expelled from the party and arrested.
He was indicted four months later.
Last November, Tian pleaded guilty to the charges at a public hearing in court and this week was sentenced to death.
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Since last year, more than a dozen senior executives at the country's most important financial institutions have been investigated or charged/Reuters
The sentence comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping works to purge the financial system of corruption.
Since last year, more than a dozen senior executives at the country's most important financial institutions have been investigated or charged, including Li Xiaofeng, former chairman of China's Everbright Group, and Liu Liang, former chairman of Bank of China.
Alongside them, prominent figures from the private sector were also accused.
China is considered a world leader in executions.
Although the country does not publish the numbers of those executed, international reports, including that of Amnesty, state that China holds the dubious global title. In the 2019 report, Amnesty estimated that China executed thousands of people that year, and another figure states that China executed at least 20,000 Ish between 1990 and 2001.
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