China has sentenced a disgraced top banker and one-time protege of former premier Zhu Rongji to 12 years in prison for taking bribes.
Today's ruling by the Beijing People's Intermediate Court came more than a year after Wang Xuebing, former head of China Construction Bank, was stripped of his membership in the ruling Communist Party and lambasted in state media as "debauched" and "corrupted".
A court official confirmed the verdict, first reported by the official Xinhua news agency. He has 10 days to appeal.
Wang was one of a string of top financial officials brought down as Beijing stepped up a campaign against corruption.
His jailing also comes as Chinese regulators struggle to clean up a banking sector plagued by shoddy management, backward technology and politically motivated lending.
The urbane and flamboyant Wang was sacked in January 2002 over problem loans made during his tenure as head of Bank of China years earlier.
By the time of his party expulsion that November, state media said Wang had embezzled money and taken bribes worth several million yuan.
A one-time rising star in China's financial world, Wang drew sharp criticism for his outspoken manner, which went against the grain of Chinese political norms.
With a penchant for well-tailored suits, expensive shoes and cigars, Wang charmed foreign bankers with his fluent English and his understanding of Western ways of doing business.
At home, his rise up the career ladder was meteoric, aided by the guiding hand of Premier Zhu, who recognised his talent as a banker and technocrat.
Wang joined Bank of China in the late 1970s, and later headed the bank's US operations, where he made a name as a reformer of China's ailing banking sector and as a mover and shaker on Wall Street's glitzy social scene.
He became president of Bank of China in 1993 and served for nearly seven years until being posted to China Construction Bank in February 2000.
Last year, China sentenced Zhu Xiaohua, former head of state-run Everbright Group and the country's most senior financial officer nabbed for corruption, to 15 years in prison for taking bribes.