Former insurance regulator chief sentenced to 11 years for bribery

The former chief of China's insurance regulator was sentenced to 11 years and fined 1.5 million yuan (212,876 U.S. dollars) on bribery charges Tuesday at a court in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province.

Xiang Junbo, 63, former chairman of China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said in court that he would obey the judgment and would not appeal.

Xiang stood trial two years ago. The prosecutors at the time said that between 2005 and 2017, Xiang, taking advantage of the power of his posts as a senior official of the People's Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, and then CIRC, offered to illegally help some organizations and individuals with project contracting, case handling, loan issuance, qualification reviews, and personnel promotion.

In return, he accepted money or gifts worth over 19.4 million yuan directly or through his associate Yang Guang, whom the indictment described as a "person of specific relation."

In his final statement on trial, the former chairman pleaded guilty and expressed repentance.

Since Xiang took the initiative to surrender all the facts of bribery crimes that officials did not uncover, he was not penalized heavily, the Changzhou Intermediate People's Court said on Tuesday.

(CGTN)