HARBIN - A court in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Sunday began hearing a fraud and embezzlement case involving former Bank of China (BOC) banker Gao Shan and six others.

The hearing began at 8:30 am at Harbin Intermediate People's Court.

Gao, former head of a BOC sub-branch in Harbin, was charged with having collaborated with other suspects in masterminding and executing the fraud between 2000 and 2004, which led to a loss of over 1 billion yuan ($161 million).

Gao and other suspects, among them prime suspect Li Dongzhe, fled to Canada at the end of 2004 before the theft came to light.

Gao was arrested by Canadian police in 2007 and later turned himself in to Chinese police in 2012. Li also turned himself in.

The case has sent shockwaves through the banking sector, and along with other corruption scandals led to a large-scale personnel reshuffle by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in its local branches.

The public hearing is expected to last till Monday.