Chinese media reported on Thursday that a former senior officer of China’s central bank has been sentenced to more than 16 years in jail for corruption.
Financial news site Caixin cited a document given by prosecutors to report that Sun Guofeng, the former chief of the monetary policy department of the People’s Bank of China, swapped information for bribes totaling 21 million yuan ($3 million).
According to Caixin, Sun also profited from insider knowledge regarding a Shanghai-listed business on the stock market.
Investigations against the 51-year-old were conducted last year due to allegations of “serious violations of discipline and law,” which is code for purported corruption.
Citing judicial sources, Caixin and many Chinese media outlets reported on Thursday that Sun had been sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison.
President Xi Jinping’s extensive anti-corruption drive is putting more and more pressure on China’s banking sector, and this is reflected in the sentence, which is among the harshest for this kind of case.
People who are under investigation are typically found guilty.
The former president of the government-owned China Citic Bank, Sun Deshun, received a life sentence last month for obtaining property worth more than $130 million unlawfully.
Zhang Hongli, the former vice chief of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), one of the largest state-owned banks in China, was the subject of a corruption probe, according to a Communist Party announcement made in November.
October saw the arrest of Li Xiaopeng, the former head of China’s state-owned banking conglomerate Everbright Group, on bribery accusations.
Since taking office ten years ago, Xi has fought a broad war against pervasive government corruption.
Critics claim the approach aids in Xi’s purging of political enemies, while supporters argue it advances clean government.