Inmates listen to a speech at Taiyuan No.1 prison in China's Shanxi province Reuters China just executed real estate developer Zeng Chengjie.

About 4,000 people are executed annually in the country, according to human rights organization Dui Hua. And a number of those executed are white collar criminals.

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Those who have been executed or who are sitting on death row include small business owners, political figures, and CEOs of large companies. They have been handed death sentences after being found guilty of fraud, corruption, or illegal fund raising.

Many protest the death sentence for such crimes because the definition of illegal fund raising, for example, is very close to private lending, a practice that is crucial for small and medium enterprises. And this has become increasingly controversial because of the role local party officials play in cases of illegal fund raising and fraud, according to Tea Leaf Nation.

China's legal system is widely criticized because those with political clout are said to get off with lighter sentences.

What follows are some of the most notorious cases in which white collar criminals were given a death sentence and in some cases, executed. Some were given a two-year reprieve i.e. if they committed no more crimes for two years and were on their best behavior their sentence would be amended to life in prison.

Note: Figures on the death penalty are a state secret. The number of executions have declined since 2007 because of a reform that required death penalties to be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court (SPC). Lucas Kawa contributed to an earlier version of this report.

