China has exonerated a supermarket tycoon jailed for fraud and corruption a decade ago in the first of several retrials of convicted entrepreneurs aimed at reassuring a private sector worried by state influence over the economy.

China’s supreme court said Zhang Wenzhong, the founder of Wumart, one of China’s largest grocery chains, was innocent of the charges of fraud, bribery and embezzlement for which he was jailed for 12 years in 2009. It added that a Rmb500,000 ($78,000) fine imposed at the time would be returned.

The supreme court vowed in December to retry three high profile cases involving entrepreneurs, including Mr Zhang’s, in what local observers are interpreting as an attempt to reassure business owners over the safety of their assets. Convictions in the three cases were all made before 2012, when President Xi Jinping assumed leadership of the Chinese Communist party.