Former Agricultural Bank of China VP arrested for suspected bribery

Beijing, Dec 13 (IANS) Lou Wenlong, a former Vice President of the Agricultural Bank of China, has been arrested on suspicion of bribery, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said on Friday.

The Fujian Provincial People's Procuratorate ordered the arrest of Lou, who was also a former member of the bank's Party committee, according to a statement by the SPP.

The case was handed over to the prosecutors for examination and prosecution following the conclusion of an investigation carried out by the National Commission of Supervision, the SPP said, Xinhua news agency reported.

Lou was expelled from the Party, according to an official statement released last month.

In another case, on December 11, a public prosecution was initiated against Li Pengxin, former Deputy Secretary of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China, on charges of taking bribe, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) had revealed.

The Baoji Municipal People's Procuratorate in northwest China's Shaanxi Province had filed the case with the city's intermediate people's court following an investigation by the National Commission of Supervision.

Prosecutors alleged that Li abused his positions in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang to secure benefits for others in exchange for an extremely large amount of bribes, according to the SPP.

Tang Shuangning, former chairman of China Everbright Group, was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for embezzlement and accepting bribes, according to a verdict issued in north China's Hebei Province on December 10.

Tang was fined 1.3 million yuan (about 181,000 US dollars), with the money he embezzled and his illegal gains to be returned to the victims or turned over to the state treasury, according to the verdict of the Intermediate People's Court of Tangshan, Hebei.

An investigation into Tang revealed that in April 2003, he used his position at the People's Bank of China to take public property worth about 3 million yuan into his own possession.

He was also found to have taken advantage of his various positions between 2000 and 2017 to benefit others, illegally receiving more than 11 million yuan in cash and valuables in return.

In light of the fact that Tang had turned himself in and remained cooperative during proceedings, he was granted leniency by the court.