BEIJING: A Chinese court sentenced on Friday the former chairman of Hengfeng Bank, Cai Guohua, to death with two-year reprieve after convicting him of abuse of power, corruption, embezzlement, receiving bribes and illegal loans, the court said. If Cai commits no further crime over the next two years, his sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment, the Dongying City Intermediate People's Court of Shandong Province said in a statement on its Weibo social media platform.

Last year, Cai's predecessor Jiang Yunxi was also found guilty of corruption and sentenced to death with two-year reprieve. Hengfeng bank, based in Shandong province, has been undergoing restructuring since 2017 when the banking and insurance regulatory watchdog appointed its staff to head up the lender due to management and liquidity issues.