Bribery Amount Reaches 168 Million! Former President of Guizhou Bank Sentenced to Death with Reprieve

Guizhou Bank corruption case has been gradually sentenced. In December 2025, the first trial verdict was announced for former Guizhou Bank Chairman Li Zhiming, who was found guilty of accepting bribes of 43.1 million yuan and sentenced to sixteen years and six months in prison.

Author | Jin Xiaoming

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Another bank president has accepted bribes exceeding 100 million yuan.

On March 18, the Intermediate People’s Court of Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province, publicly announced the verdict. Former Guizhou Bank President Xu An was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting bribes, embezzlement, and money laundering, and his personal assets were confiscated; criminal proceeds and interest were to be recovered and turned over to the state treasury or returned to the victimized units.

The court found that Xu An accepted bribes totaling over 168 million yuan and embezzled more than 8.35 million yuan.

The Guizhou Bank corruption case has been gradually sentenced. In December 2025, the first trial verdict was announced for former Guizhou Bank Chairman Li Zhiming, who was found guilty of accepting bribes of 43.1 million yuan and sentenced to sixteen years and six months in prison.

Financial Commentator’s note: Although Li Zhiming’s bribes did not exceed 100 million yuan, he illegally disbursed over 304.6 million yuan, causing particularly significant losses.

President Xu An’s bribe amount not only far exceeds that of Chairman Li Zhiming but also adds another member to the “billion-yuan” financial tiger.

Recent public verdicts show that former CITIC Group Vice President Xu Zuo accepted bribes of 147 million yuan and was sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes and illegal business operations; former ICBC Vice President Zhang Hongli accepted bribes of 177 million yuan; former Wenzhou Bank President Wu Hu accepted bribes of 275.44 million yuan. Both were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, life imprisonment, with no possibility of reduction or parole.

/ Xu An involved in three crimes /

Former Guizhou Bank Chairman Li Zhiming and President Xu An were sentenced in the first instance by the Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court.

The court found that Xu An was involved in accepting bribes, embezzlement, and money laundering. However, unlike other fallen financial executives, Xu An was not involved in illegal loan disbursements; instead, Guizhou Bank Chairman Li Zhiming was involved in illegal loan disbursements.

The verdict states that, from 2005 to 2023, Xu An helped multiple companies and individuals in loan approval, business cooperation, and project contracting, receiving, directly or in collusion with others, illegal payments totaling over 168 million yuan. Some of these assets were not actually obtained due to objective reasons, constituting attempted bribery. The court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve, lifelong political rights deprivation, and confiscation of all personal property.

Regarding embezzlement, in March 2021, Xu An used his position as Guizhou Bank President to arrange subordinates to use public funds to offset personal loans, illegally appropriating over 8.35 million yuan of public assets. He was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined 500,000 yuan.

For money laundering, from March to July 2022, Xu An arranged for others to transfer over 2.03 million yuan of illicit funds through third-party bank accounts to pay for personal house purchases, real estate agency fees, and renovation costs. He was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 50,000 yuan for money laundering.

The court also recognized that Xu An’s bribery crimes involved some attempted offenses. After being arrested, he truthfully confessed his crimes, voluntarily disclosed unreported bribery issues, and actively cooperated in returning stolen money and assets. Some of the involved assets have been recovered, and he received legally and discretionarily lighter punishment.

Based on the facts and circumstances of the case, the court sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve, lifelong political rights deprivation, and confiscation of all personal property; all criminal proceeds and interest were to be recovered and turned over to the state treasury or returned to the victims.

/ Gradual sentencing of Guizhou Bank corruption case /

Data shows Xu An was born in 1964. From December 1980 to July 1983, he worked in the Pingba County branch of the People’s Bank of China, engaged in savings and accounting; from July 1983 to July 1986, he studied at Guizhou Radio and TV University; Xu An also held multiple positions at the Anshun branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

In May 2002, Xu An was transferred to serve as Deputy Party Secretary, Vice Chairman, and General Manager of Anshun City Credit Cooperative; from February 2009 to September 2012, he served as Party Secretary and Chairman of Anshun City Commercial Bank. After the merger and reorganization into Guizhou Bank in September 2012, Xu An became a member of the Party Committee and Vice President of Guizhou Bank; from January 2018, he served as President, and from August of the same year, as Executive Director.

In March 2024, Guizhou Bank announced that Xu An would no longer serve as Deputy Party Secretary due to work arrangements, and he personally applied to resign from his positions as Executive Director and President.

On May 22, 2024, the Guizhou Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission announced that Xu An was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and was under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation. On February 8, 2025, with approval from the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, he was expelled from the Party and dismissed from public office; his criminal issues were transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution. On February 21, 2025, the Liupanshui People’s Procuratorate officially approved his arrest.

With the first-instance verdict of Xu An’s case, more cases of corruption within Guizhou Bank are entering the sentencing stage.

On December 4, 2025, the Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court publicly sentenced former Guizhou Bank Chairman Li Zhiming. Li was convicted of accepting bribes and illegal loan disbursements, and was sentenced to 16 years and 6 months in prison, with a fine of 2.7 million yuan. All illegal gains and interest were to be confiscated.

The court found that from 2013 to 2023, Li Zhiming served as Vice President of Hubei Bank, Party Secretary and Chairman of Guizhou Bank, leveraging his position to help related companies and individuals in loan approval and business cooperation, illegally accepting assets worth over 43.1 million yuan; from 2018 to 2020, during his tenure as Chairman of Guizhou Bank, he approved loans totaling 304.6 million yuan, causing particularly serious losses.

Li Zhiming and Xu An held overlapping high-level positions at Guizhou Bank during their tenures.

Currently, several core personnel of Guizhou Bank have been investigated, including former Chief Expert Wang Xiangdong, former General Manager of the Village and Town Bank Management Department Li Guowen, and former Senior Professional Manager Li Keyong of the Security Management Department.

Financial Commentator’s note: The successor to Li Zhiming as Party Secretary of Guizhou Bank is Yang Mingshang, who comes from the Agricultural Bank system. However, born in 1965, Yang is nearing retirement age, and Guizhou Bank will face leadership changes again.