China on Tuesday sentenced to death the former chairman of a branch of state-owned telecom giant China Mobile for accepting $2.6 million-worth of bribes, state media reported. Li Hua, chairman and general manager of the Sichuan branch of China Mobile Communications Corporation, was convicted of receiving bribes totalling 16.48 million yuan, Xinhua reported, citing a spokesman for the Intermediate People's Court of Panzhihua City.
The report said Li had taken money from local companies in exchange for offering "interests", but had later turned himself in and the cash had been handed over to the state. Li, whose age was not given in the brief dispatch, was sentenced to death with two years' probation, the report said.