The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) detected 113 bribery cases in the banking sector in 2006. They involved 26.08 million yuan (US$3.34 million) and 164 people involved were detained.

The majority of cases had been settled by the courts or entered judicial process, Gong Jie, an official responsible for the CBRC's anti-commercial bribery section said yesterday.

The CBRC stepped up efforts in recent years to prevent bribery or bring the culprits to justice especially after central government increased its resolve to eradicate the social and economic malaise.

A total of 316 commercial bribery cases were dealt with between 2003 and 2005. These involved over 72.7 million yuan (US$9.3 million). "In most of the cases bank staff had taken bribes mainly to grant loans for infrastructure construction or large purchases such as those needed for IT projects," Gong said.

Eleven of the cases between January 2001 and May 2006 involved 26.9 million yuan (US$3.45 million) and related to the IT projects of the top five banks: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications.

"Many cases were reported from State-controlled commercial banks and rural cooperatives," he said. In fact 55 of the 113 cases in 2006 involved State-controlled commercial banks with 29 related to rural cooperatives.

Typical cases listed by the CBRC include:

ICBC's Hubei branch. Former general manager of its information and science department, Wu Weigang, accepted 375,000 yuan (US$48,000) in bribes to clear the branch's equipment purchase and other projects between January 2002 and August 2004. Wu was sentenced to six years in prison last year.

ABC's Shanghai branch. The former head of its security division, Liu Gang, took 840,000 yuan (US$107,600) in bribes from three companies to clear the purchase of security products and bidding for equipment maintenance from them between November 2003 and December 2005. He was sentenced to 13 years in jail in October 2006.

BOC's Hainan branch. Former vice-president of the branch, Qin Zhixin, accepted bribes of more than 13 million yuan (US$1.67 million) from 1992 and 2005 to approve bad loans and develop property projects. He couldn't account for more than 20 million yuan (US$2.56 million) of his personal assets. Qin was given the death sentence, suspended for two years, last year.

China Everbright Bank. The former vice-president of the bank's Heilongjiang branch, Chen Hongbo, took 1.8 million yuan (US$230,700) in bribes from 1999 to 2003. He was sentenced to 10 years jail in February 2006.

Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. Former general manager of the Shanghai branch of the bank's computer department, Cao Yunkan, accepted 59,000 yuan (US$7,500) from the company installing its IT network project in 2005. Cao was jailed for a year, with a one-year suspension. This case was the only one involving overseas invested banks last year.

(China Daily January 31, 2007)