Former New China Life Insurance chairman handed suspended death sentence over corruption

Audio By Carbonatix

BEIJING (Reuters) -The former chairman of New China Life Insurance, Li Quan, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on corruption charges by a court in the Chinese province of Shandong, national broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.

Li’s case adds to a growing list of senior financial executives caught in an intensified corruption crackdown on the sprawling financial sector since 2021.

In China, a suspended death sentence means the sentence will only be carried out if the offender commits further crimes during the reprieve period. If reprieved, it is commuted to a life prison sentence.

The court said Li took in more than 200 million yuan ($28 million) through embezzlement and bribes from 2010 to 2024, CCTV reported.

From June 2015 to March 2024, Li took advantage of his position as president and chairman of Xinhua Asset Management and chairman of Xinhua Asset Management (Hong Kong) to misappropriate 108 million yuan through fraudulent schemes, the court said, according to the CCTV report.

Li was found to have colluded with others to illegally obtain business proceeds through deception and concealment during his tenure.

The court said Li accepted bribes worth 105 million yuan from 2010 to 2023.

Last year, a court in China’s Shandong province gave former Bank of China chairman Liu Liange a suspended death sentence for bribery and illegal loan issuance.

($1 = 7.1092 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ziyi Tang, Ryan Woo and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Alex Richardson)