SHANGHAI: A key player in the Shanghai corruption scandal has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve.

Wang Weigong, a former secretary in Shanghai's Party committee and in the General Office of State Council, was paid bribes of nearly 13 million yuan ($1.9 million) between 1995 and 2006, Changchun Intermediate People's Court in Jilin province said last Friday.

Businessman Zhang Rongkun, the former chairman of Fuxi Investment and Feidian Investment, paid about 70 percent of that money. The rest was collected from seven companies and individuals. Wang and Zhang were among several high-profile people caught up in Shanghai's biggest financial scandal, which involved the embezzlement of 3.7 billion yuan of the city's pension funds for use on highway construction and property development.