Ex–China Construction Bank executive gets 18 years for bribery, loan violations

Zhang Gengsheng, former vice-president of China Construction Bank Corp., was sentenced to 18 years in prison and fined 4.1 million yuan ($589,000) on Wednesday for accepting bribes and illegally issuing loans, a court in Shandong province said.

The Zibo Intermediate People's Court sentenced Zhang to 13 years in prison and fined him 4 million yuan for accepting bribes, and to 10 years in prison and a 100,000 yuan fine for illegal loan issuance. The combined sentence totals 18 years.

The court also ordered that the seized bribes and related interest be turned over to the state treasury, with any shortfall to be further recovered.

The court found that between 2006 and September 2019, Zhang abused his positions at China Construction Bank, including as general manager of a client department and later as vice-president, to seek benefits for entities and individuals in matters involving loan credit, approvals and job adjustments. In return, he illegally accepted property worth more than 40.64 million yuan.

The court said that from the second half of 2016 to April 2017, while serving as vice-president of the bank, Zhang knowingly arranged for the issuance of large loans to entities that did not meet lending requirements, causing particularly heavy losses.

Zhang received a lenient punishment because he truthfully confessed, voluntarily disclosed criminal facts previously unknown to investigators, actively returned illegal gains, and because most of the bribes and related interest had been recovered, the court said.

The 65-year-old Zhang, a native of Anhui province, spent most of his career at China Construction Bank. He served as vice-president beginning in April 2013 and concurrently as executive director and vice president from 2015. He retired from those positions in December 2020.

Zhang became an external director of State Grid Corp. of China in July 2021 and was placed under investigation in November 2024.