Former bank official gets suspended death sentence

Fan Yifei, the former vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes worth more than 386 million yuan ($53.3 million) by a court in Huanggang, Hubei province, on Thursday.

Fan was also deprived of his political rights for life, and all of his personal assets were confiscated, according to the ruling made by the Huanggang Intermediate People's Court.

In China, if an inmate given a suspended death sentence commits no new offense during probation, his or her sentence will usually be reduced to life imprisonment. If the inmate behaves well in prison, their sentences may be further commutated, or they may become eligible for parole.

In Fan's case, if he behaves well during the reprieve, his sentence will be reduced to life imprisonment, but there will be no possibility of commutation or parole, the court said. He will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

In addition, the court added that Fan's illicit gains will be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.

According to the investigation conducted by the court, from 1993 to 2022, Fan was found to have taken advantage of his positions — including as deputy head of China Construction Bank's fund planning division, chairman of the Bank of Shanghai, vice-president of China Investment Corporation and vice-governor of the PBOC, the country's central bank — to seek profits for individuals and departments in various matters such as loan financing, business contracting and job transfers. In return, he accepted bribes of over 386 million yuan.

"But considering he confessed to the offense, voluntarily shared some of the bribery facts unknown to investigators and returned his illicit gains, we leniently punished him, giving him a suspended death sentence," it said.

Fan, a 60-year-old native of Jiangsu province, graduated with a doctorate in finance from the Renmin University of China. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1991 and worked in the nation's banking system for decades. He served as vice-governor of the central bank in February 2015.

Fan was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation in November 2022, becoming the first high-ranking official known to have been investigated after the 20th National Congress of the CPC, which was held in October that year.