The former president of China Construction Bank (CCB), Zhang Enzhao, has been sentenced to a 15-year jail term for receiving bribes.

The sentence was handed down here on Friday by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court.

The court found that Zhang took advantage of his position between 2000 and 2004, when he was vice president, then president and finally chairman of China Construction Bank Ltd.

The court heard that he received cash and property bribes totaling more than four million yuan (500,000 U.S. dollars).

Zhang's assets have been turned over to the state.

The court ruled that Zhang committed bribery by abusing his power to benefit other people and illegally received large amounts of cash and property in return.

The court said it gave Zhang a lenient sentence of 15 years because he made a full confession, even though investigators had no hard evidence of the crimes, and because he turned the bribe money over to the state.

China Construction Bank is one of the big four state-owned commercial banks.

Source: Xinhua