The former head of China’s food and drugs regulator was sentenced to death in Beijing on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve medicines, as the government scrambled to restore confidence after a series of scandals about health and safety.

Zheng Xiaoyu was convicted on charges of taking more than Rmb6.5m ($832,000, €632,000, £429,000) in bribes from drugs companies and of “dereliction of duty” by the Beijing municipal no. 1 intermediate people’s court, the official Xinhua news agency said.