Former Vice Head of Banking Regulator Given Suspended Death Sentence in $80 Million Bribery Case

What’s new: Cai Esheng, a former vice chairman of the now-defunct China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for taking more than 517 million yuan ($80 million in 2021) in bribes and for abusing his power, a court announced on Friday.

The punishment will be commuted to life in prison if the septuagenarian commits no further crimes during the two-year reprieve. Cai will spend the rest of his life in prison with no possibility of parole or a reduction in his sentence, the court in Zhenjiang city in the eastern province of Jiangsu ruled.