[Deathpenalty]death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 17


CHINA:

Bank of China Unit Head Sentenced to Death


A Chinese court has sentenced a former executive of a Hong Kong subsidiary
of the Bank of China to death for embezzling funds worth more than 1
million dollars, the Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

The death sentence for Zhang Liang, former head of Hong Kong Kaida
Development Co, was suspended for 2 years in a ruling by the People's
Supreme Court in the southern province of Jiangxi, said a report on
Xinhua's Web site.

Suspended death penalties are usually commuted to life in prison.

Zhang embezzled the funds when he served as general manager of Kaida, a
wholly owned unit of the Bank of China, from 1992 to 1998, the report
said.

Zhang pocketed 4.95 million yuan ($598,100) in loans and fees, took bribes
worth 400,000 yuan and diverted company funds worth $650,000 to a private
business run by a friend, it said.

China is battling rampant official corruption in the banking industry as
state lenders gear up to cut piles of bad loans and improve risk controls
ahead of a deadline at the end of 2006, when the sector opens fully to
foreign rivals.

(source: Reuters)