Chinese authorities have executed a securities trader found guilty of embezzlement to the tune of $9.52m.

However, the whereabouts of the siphoned-off cash is still unknown, Reuters reports - and presumably it will never now be recovered.

Yang Yanming received the death sentence back in 2005 for embezzlement while he was general manager of trading at China Great Wall Trust and Investment Corp, which later became Galaxy Securities.

"Preserve your moral integrity and don't set too much store by business results," Yang told a newspaper just before his execution.

China takes a very harsh line on criminality, although this is the first execution carried out on an erstwhile member of the financial classes.

China carries out more executions every year than any other country, with either the gun or lethal injection used.

While murder, drug trafficking and the like attract the penalty, the state will also happily execute other classes of criminals, with both corrupt officials and businessmen liable to pay the ultimate price if convicted. Executives involved in the notorious tainted baby milk scandal were handed death sentences earlier this year. ®