China insurance executive gets suspended death sentence

An insurance executive who fled China was given a suspended death sentence in a USD 210 million fraud case today, after being repatriated from the South Pacific island of Fiji, a Shanghai court said.
Chen Yi, former general manager of Shanghai Fanxin Insurance Agency, was handed a death sentence with a two-year reprieve, the Shanghai Number One Intermediate People's Court said in a statement.
In China, suspended death sentences are typically commuted to life in jail.
The executive, dubbed "beautiful woman manager" by state media, was convicted of fraudulent fundraising, it said.
Chen and another company executive, Jiang Jie, sold "fake" insurance products to more than 4,400 customers in Shanghai and the neighbouring province of Zhejiang, collecting over 1.3 billion yuan (USD 210 million) in premiums, according to the court.

The two fled China in July 2013 with more than 830,000 euros (USD 939,000) in cash and goods, after transferring nearly USD 6.4 million from the company to Hong Kong, it said.

Authorities brought the pair back from Fiji with that country's cooperation in August 2013, state media reported.
Jiang was given a life sentence on Wednesday, the court said.
Fanxin, founded in 2007, was mainly engaged in the life insurance intermediary business. Its partners previously included Sunshine Insurance Group, Kunlun Health Insurance Co., Taikang Life Insurance Co. And Happy Life Insurance Co., reports said.
Other partners were two Sino-foreign joint ventures: one set up by Canada's Sun Life and Chinese financial giant Everbright Group, and a venture between Dutch insurance group Aegon and Chinese energy giant CNOOC.