China's Anti-Corruption Crackdown Sees Execution Of Ex-Chief Of Financial Assets Company Over $156 Bribery

(MENAFN- Live Mint) China's anti-corruption crackdown is in the limelight after it executed a former executive of China Huarong International Holdings, Bai Tianhui, linked with $156 million (or 1.1 billion yuan) bribery, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Bai Tianhui, who was the ex-general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), was executed on Tuesday as he was found guilty of accepting bribes.

As per the conviction charges, he played a key role in the acquisition and financing of projects between 2014 and 2018 during which he offered favourable treatment. This recent Chinese government's intensified crackdown on corruption, particularly within its financial institutions, follows similar actions against other high-ranking officials. Over the years, Huarong has been a major target of President Xi Jinping's administration.

Notably, CHIH is a state-controlled asset management firm, which is among one of the country's largest asset management funds in the country and is a subsidiary of China Huarong Asset Management that focuses on bad-debt management.

In May 2024, Bai Tianhui was sentenced to death, but the execution is often issued with a two-year reprieve. However, in this case it was not commuted to life in prison even though Bai Tianhui appealed against his conviction. The original verdict was upheld in February and Bai Tianhui was finally executed on 9 December. China's Supreme People's Court reviewed the decision and did not suspend the death sentence. It suggested that Bai's crimes were "extremely serious," CCTV reported.

China's highest court said,“(Bai) accepted bribes of an exceptionally large amount, the circumstances of his crimes were exceptionally serious, the social impact was especially egregious, and the interests of the state and the people suffered exceptionally significant losses,” CCTV reported. Bai Tianhui met his close relatives before he was put to death on Tuesday morning.

Chinese government convicted several individuals in its long-running anticorruption drive targeting the finance industry:

• Bai Tianhui was the latest high-ranking figure to be executed.
• In September this year, former chief of China's top securities regulator, Yi Huiman, was placed under investigation on corruption charges.
• Huarong's former chairman Lai Xiaomin was executed in January 2021 for accepting bribes worth $253 million.
• The former head of state-owned banking giant Everbright Group, Li Xiaopeng, was awarded 15 years' imprisonment sentence for accepting bribes totalling 60 million yuan.
• Former chairman of the Bank of China, Liu Liange, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in November last year for taking bribes worth 121 million yuan.

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