Wang Xuebing, former president of the China Construction Bank (CCB), was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in jail for taking bribes in the first ruling from the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court.

The CCB, one of China's four major state-run commercial banks, is mainly involved in long- and medium-term credit business.

Wang was expelled last year from the Communist Party of China (CPC) on charges of taking bribes, leading a decadent life and breaking financial rules. He was an alternate member of the 15th Central Committee of the CPC.

Wang had embezzled and accepted bribes and expensive gifts to the tune of millions of yuan, led a decadent life, and broken financial rules with severe consequence when he was general manager of the New York branch of the Bank of China and president of the Bank of China, CPC sources said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2003)