A higher court in Jilin Province has upheld a 19-year jail term for Zhang Rongkun, a key figure in Shanghai's pension fund scandal, Shanghai Oriental Morning Post reported today.

The Higher People's Court of Jilin yesterday upheld Zhang's sentence while the appeals of five of his subordinates were also rejected, the newspaper said.

Zhang and the others pledged to appeal to the Supreme People's Court, the report added.

Zhang, a Suzhou native, was handed the term and had 1.6 billion yuan (US$229 million) of assets confiscated on April 8 for bribing officials, company executives, manipulating stocks prices, fraudulent bond issuing and the illegal withdrawal of capital contribution, the Songyuan Intermediate People's court ruled.

Zhang's two companies were also fined a combined 300 million yuan.

The court found Zhang and his two investment companies – Fuxi Investment and Feidian Investment – bribed civil servants with 29 million yuan, including 9.3 million yuan paid to Wang Weigong, deputy general manager of state-controlled Shenergy Group.

Wang Weigong introduced Chen Liangyu, former Shanghai Party Secretary to Zhang, previous reports said.

Chen, who was brought down in 2006, was sentenced to 19 years behind bars for abuse of power and taking bribes on April 11 by Tianjin No. 2 Intermediate People's Court.

Wang Weigong is under investigation.

With Chen's help, Zhang acquired a 99.35-percent stake in Shanghai Road and Bridge Development Company Ltd, an arm of the state-owned Shanghai Urban Construction Development Co, by paying 1.015 billion yuan, 300 million yuan less than its lowest estimated market value, according to previous reports.

From 2000 to July 2007, Zhang bribed two senior executives of Shanghai-listed Haixin Group with 1.7 million yuan to manipulate the share price of the company, according to the Jilin court.

Zhang and two Fuxi Investment executives committed fraudulent bond issues during the issuance of the company's short-term bills in 2005, the report said, citing the court's verdict.

The Jilin court also found Zhang borrowed 200 million yuan from Shanghai's pension fund in 2003 and injected the money into Feidian Investment before withdrawing the money.

Zhang and his two accomplices committed the crime of illegal withdrawal of contribution, the court said.