Former official of banking regulator sentenced to 16 years

Zhang Jinsong, a former official of the former China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday by a court in Beijing for bribery-related crimes.

The Beijing No 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang to 13 years' imprisonment and a fine of 2 million yuan ($295,070) for accepting bribes, while giving him a prison term of seven years and six months, along with 500,000 yuan, for using official influence to take bribes.

The court combined the sentences and announced a 16-year sentence and a 2.5 million yuan fine.

Zhang's illicit gains have been confiscated and will be turned over to the State treasury, the court added. No further details were released.

In March 2023, the central leadership and the State Council, China's Cabinet, rolled out an institutional reform that replaced the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission with the newly formed National Financial Regulatory Administration.

Public records show that Zhang, a native of Hunan province, once served as deputy head of the commission's legal and regulation planning department. In March 2024, he was placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation. In November that year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China.