Tian Huiyu, a former president of China Merchants Bank, has been sentenced to death, suspended for two years, for accepting bribes, abusing power, trading on the basis of undisclosed information, insider trading and leaking inside information, a court announced on Monday.

Tian has been deprived of his political rights for life and had all his personal property confiscated, according to the public verdict released by the Intermediate People's Court of Changde, central China's Hunan Province on Monday.

Tian was sentenced to 15 years in prison and given a fine of 308 million yuan ($45 million) for abusing power and illegally participating in securities trading activities.

Proceeds from Tian's crimes and their gains were confiscated and will be directed to the state treasury, according to the court.

In Tian's case, the amount of the bribes was particularly large, and it has caused huge economic losses for the country and damaged the interests of the people, the court said, adding that the situation was extremely serious.

However, the court also said that the death penalty does not necessarily have to be carried out immediately considering that Tian, after his arrest, has taken the initiative to disclose most of the facts about his bribery, as well as other details.

Tian's case came after China's top anti-graft body ramped up efforts to strengthen supervision of public officials in the financial industry, as part of a broad push to prevent systemic risks within the country's capital market.

On October 8, 2022, Tian was expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office over serious violations of Party discipline and laws, according to China's top anti-graft body.

Fifteen months later, he was held criminally liable for the crimes of bribery and abuse of power as well as trading undisclosed information, insider trading and leaking inside messages.

Shares in the bank on the A-share market closed at 30.71 yuan ($4.27) on Monday, up 1.59 percent from the previous trading day but down from 45 yuan in April 2022, when the case began.