A leading Chinese oil executive was sentenced to death for embezzling nearly 37 million yuan (4.6 million dollars) and accepting another 4.8 million yuan in bribes, state press reported Saturday.
Li Rongxing, former head of the Daming Group, was sentenced to death with a two year reprieve by the Taian city intermediate court in eastern China’s Shandong province on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
The two-year reprieve means that Li’s sentenced will likely be commuted to life in prison.
The Daming Group is owned by China’s major state-owned oil refiner the Sinopec Corp and runs Sinopec’s Shengli Oil Fields in Shandong province.
According to the report Li was convicted of using his position to embezzle public funds from between 1994 and 2003 through various means including accounting scams and shady real estate deals.
He also accepted bribes on 17 occasions from other state-run units, from 1994 to 2004, it said.
