Cai Esheng

Cai Esheng, former vice chairman of China's banking regulator, is being prosecuted for corruption and the abuse of power. Cai, who was arrested in February this year, is accused of taking bribes and illegally accepting other people's property in a "particularly large" amount, said a statement by China's Supreme People's Procuratorate on Monday.

During his tenure, Cai violated laws and related regulations, practiced favoritism, abused his power in his official capacity, and caused heavy losses to public property, the interests of the country and the people, and the circumstances were "particularly severe," read the statement.

The investigation of Cai has been concluded by the National Supervisory Commission, reviewed and prosecuted by the People's Procuratorate of Zhenjiang City, East China's Jiangsu Province and designated by the Supreme People's Procuratorate.

Cai's prosecution is also a manifestation of China's determination and even greater efforts to combat financial sector corruption, with a number of senior government financial officials being investigated and expelled from the Party over the past several years. 

Born in 1951 in Central China's Hubei Province, Cai was the vice chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) from 2005 to 2013. The prosecution came eight years after he retired.

He was expelled from the Communist Party of China for corruption in January. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), accused Cai of serious violations of the law and Party discipline, according to a CCDI statement. 

The CCDI used very harsh wording in reporting the results of the investigation into Cai's reported violations, saying that Cai had lost his ideals. He was also said to have disrupted financial market order and seriously corrupted the political ecosystem of the financial sector. 

The CBRC was merged with China's insurance industry regulator to become the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in 2018.

Global Times