A court sentenced to death the former head of the Chinese Capital Airports Holding (CAH) after he man was found guilty of corruption and embezzlement, the official Xinhua news agency said Wednesday, dpa reported.
Li Peiying, 59, was found guilty of having accepted bribes of 26 million yuan (3.8 million dollars) and embezzling 82 million yuan in the period from 1995 to 2003. The CAH owns 30 airports in nine Chinese provinces.
The Jinan Intermediate People's Court justified its sentence with the high economic damage Li had caused during his eight-year tenure for the state-owned company. Li was also accused of having abused his position to provide others with guarantees for bank loans.
The CAH, which was formed in 2002 in a merger of airport operators in Beijing, Tianjin as well as three other companies, is supervised by the Chinese aviation authority CAAC and employs more than 38,000 people.