The ex-deputy general manager of China Mobile was sentenced to death with a two-year suspension yesterday following his conviction for bribery.
Zhang Chunjiang was also ordered by the Intermediate People's Court in Cangzhou city, Hebei province, to have his personal assets confiscated and political rights stripped.
Zhang's death sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment after two years because he confessed and the bribe money was recovered, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Zhang was taken away by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in December 2009. The Caixin Century magazine has reported that at least eight other China Mobile executives have been taken away by police over the past 18 months on corruption charges.
The court found that Zhang, 53, took 7.46 million yuan (HK$9 million) in bribes from a telecommunications company and an advertising company between 1994 and 2009 when he served first as deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Postal Administration, then as general manager of China Netcom Group, and finally as party chief and deputy general manger of China Mobile.
Zhang has already been expelled from the Communist Party.