Sinopec ex-chairman gets suspended death sentence

BEIJING (Reuters) - China handed down a suspended death sentence to the ex-chairman of top Asian refiner Sinopec Corp Chen Tonghai for accepting about $28 million (17.1 million pounds) in bribes, state media said on Wednesday, nearly two years after he was suddenly removed from his post.

Chen Tonghai was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting 195.73 million yuan (17.5 million pounds) in bribes, Xinhua said, citing a verdict by Beijing No.2 Intermediate Court on Wednesday.

Chen, a veteran oil executive majored in petroleum engineering at university, and worked as a refinery head in eastern China in the early 1980s before becoming Sinopec Corp chairman in 2003.

Before taking the helm at the top Asian refiner, Chen was deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission, which was later renamed the National Development & Reform Commission.

"Chen took an extremely large amount of bribes; severe enough for a death sentence ... But as he confessed and repented, provided tips about other people's criminal acts, and returned all the bribes, a reprieve was granted," Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Jim Bai; Editing by Chris Lewis)