Beijing, Nov 26 (IANS): Liu Liange, former Chairman of Bank of China, was on Tuesday sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for bribe-taking and illegal issuing of loans.

He was found to have accepted bribes worth over 121 million yuan (about 16.8 million US dollars), according to a court in the city of Jinan, east China's Shandong Province.

Liu was deprived of political rights for life, all of his personal property will be confiscated, and all his illegal gains must be recovered and turned over to the state treasury, the court sentence read, Xinhua news agency reported.

The court found that Liu had taken advantage of his various positions at the Export-Import Bank of China and Bank of China, respectively, to provide assistance to others in matters such as loan financing, project cooperation and personnel arrangements -- while illegally accepting bribes in return.

Moreover, he was found to have knowingly facilitated the issuance of loans totaling more than 3.32 billion yuan to unqualified companies in violation of legal rules, resulting in a principal loss of over 190.7 million yuan, the court said.