A FINANCE school graduate who robbed a bank in the city was sentenced to 10 years in jail, Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court said yesterday.

Wan Guangdao, 23, a graduate of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, robbed a branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in the Pudong New Area on April 10, prosecutors said.

Covering himself in a Chilote cap and a mask, Wan followed two women into a VIP room at the bank.

He held a knife at the throat of one of the women and told the bank clerk to put 100,000 yuan (US$16,470) into his bag.

He fled with the money but was chased by several bank staff and a bystander. Exhausted from running, he threw the bag filled with the money into a passing car and then fled after getting into a taxi.

Wan was caught the same day after police raided his rented apartment.

“You need at least 2 million yuan to buy an apartment in Shanghai,” Wan told the court. “My salary was only 4,000 yuan a month. I would never have been able to pay such a large payment even if I kept working for five to 10 years.”

“I did not have a bank deposit and nearly ran out of money at that time.”

Wan’s two credit cards had an overdraft of more than 60,000 yuan. Unable to pay for it, he thought up of robbing a bank.

Wan hailed from Shandong Province in east China and enrolled at the prestigious Shanghai school after managing extremely high scores at the National College Entrance Examination.