Suspended Death Term For China's Ex-Central Bank Deputy Head

One of China’s former top banking officials has been convicted of taking huge bribes under the country’s long-running drive to reduce graft in the financial sector.

Fan Yifei, a former deputy central bank governor, was sentenced to death because of the “extremely large” bribes he received, state media said on Thursday.

Fan was found guilty of illegally accepting property worth more than 386 million yuan ($54.55 million), taking advantage of his senior positions at the central bank and other financial institutions, including China Construction Bank, according to the report, which cited a Chinese court verdict.

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However, Fan was given a two-year reprieve and the death sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, with no possibility of further commutation or parole, the report said, citing Huanggang Intermediate People’s Court in Hubei province.

“Fan Yifei accepted bribes of an extremely large amount, the circumstances of his crimes were extremely serious, the social impact was extremely bad, and the interests of the state and the people suffered extremely heavy losses,” the court was quoted as saying.

Fan, 60, is the highest-ranking official at the People’s Bank of China to be arrested under President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft drive over the past decade, in a campaign aimed at weeding out corrupt officials in the financial sector.

Fan was placed under investigation by Chinese authorities in late 2022, and expelled from the Communist Party in 2023.

Reuters was not able to contact Fan for comment.

China’s anti-graft watchdog has in recent months launched a sweeping crackdown on the financial sector that has ensnared some of the country’s biggest names, including Liu Liange, former chairman of state-owned Bank of China, and Wang Bin, former head of state-owned China Life Insurance.

In April, Liu, who stepped down in March 2023, pled guilty to accepting bribes totaling more than 121 million yuan, according to state media.

Tang Shuangning, ex-chairman of China Everbright Group, has also been charged with bribery and corruption.