Yang, the first person in the securities sector sentenced to death for embezzlement, listened calmly as the presiding judge delivered his verdict, according to the Beijing Morning Post.
Yang’s case had dragged on for five years. Yang, who had attempted suicide twice, has always remained silent when asked about the missing money or claimed that he couldn’t remember clearly. He admitted during an earlier session of his retrial in late March that some of the money had been spent on bribes, but refused to name the recipients. The police have yet to find the stolen money.
His lawyer, Qian Lieyang, told the media that the recipients are probably very important to Yang and that they will benefit from his death if the execution order is upheld by the Supreme Court.
The case has become a hot topic on Chinese internet forums. Some bloggers speculated that Yang’s silence would protect his family from facing revenge for his actions. Others suspect the police are unwilling to dig further into this issue for fear of uncovering larger problems.
