CHINA. SENIOR OFFICIAL EXECUTED FOR CORRUPTION

September 11, 2007: a senior official at the troubled Agricultural Bank of China was executed for corruption, following years of ordering suppliers to pay him kickbacks, state media said.
Wen Mengjie, 50, former head of information technology at one of the bank's Beijing branches, was executed for embezzling and taking bribes worth 15 million yuan (1.97 million dollars), the Xinhua news agency reported. He was found guilty of taking bribes worth 10.73 million yuan during the buying of equipment and computer software between 1999 and 2004 and embezzling another 4.32 million yuan from his bank, it said.
Wen reportedly argued that the money had simply been given to him from four suppliers. But the suppliers testified against him, saying he demanded that money be paid to a company he owned and into his personal bank account. Wen bought three houses in Beijing with the bribes he received, the report said. (Sources: Agence France Presse, 12/09/2007)