A former high-ranking official from the Chinese central bank, Sun Guofeng, has been sentenced to 16 years and six months in prison. He was found guilty of bribery, leaking state secrets, and insider trading.
The ruling Communist Party’s intensified focus on the financial sector led to this stringent action against Sun. As the former head of the bank’s monetary policy department, he exploited his position between 2002 and 2020. Sun allegedly facilitated the acquisition of classified information for others in exchange for illicit payments totaling 21 million yuan ($2.96 million), according to reports from Chinese media outlet Caixin.
During a separate period from 2014 to 2015, Sun reportedly gained insider information regarding the merger-and-acquisition plans of a Shanghai-listed company. Exploiting this information, he engaged in illegal trading, resulting in profits exceeding 11 million yuan. The investigation into Sun’s activities commenced in 2022 as part of President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft campaign, which targets corruption within the financial sector.
Caixin reported that Sun has been fined 13.1 million yuan in addition to the prison sentence. As of now, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has not provided comment, and attempts by Reuters to reach Sun for a statement have been unsuccessful. This development follows the arrest of another senior official at the central bank, Fan Yifei, in June on suspicion of bribery.
