29-5-2024 (BEIJING) In a startling development that underscores China’s relentless crackdown on corruption within its financial sector, a Beijing court has handed down a death sentence to a former executive of one of the country’s largest state-controlled asset management firms for accepting “extremely large” bribes.
According to state media reports, Bai Tianhui, the former general manager at a subsidiary of the bad-debt manager Huarong Asset Management, was found guilty of receiving the equivalent of more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$151.9 million) by exploiting his management positions to offer favorable treatment in matters such as project acquisition and corporate financing.
Huarong Asset Management has been a major target of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s years-long anti-corruption campaign, with its former chairman, Lai Xiaomin, executed in January 2021 for receiving bribes worth US$260 million.
While supporters argue that the anti-corruption drive promotes clean governance, critics contend that it also provides Xi with the power to purge political rivals.
The court’s verdict, as reported by state broadcaster CCTV, was unequivocal: “Bai Tianhui is sentenced to death, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.”
The court’s rationale for the severe punishment was that “the value of Bai Tianhui’s bribery crime was extremely large, the circumstances of the crime were extremely serious, the social impact was extremely bad, and it caused extremely heavy damage to the interests of the country and the people.”
This latest development comes on the heels of a Politburo meeting on Monday, where China’s top leaders declared that “those who fail to perform their duties will be held to account, and be severely punished,” according to state news agency Xinhua.
Recent months have witnessed a surge in anti-corruption efforts targeting figures from China’s financial and banking sectors. In April, Liu Liange, chairman of the Bank of China from 2019 to 2023, admitted to “accepting bribes and illegally providing loans.” That same month, Li Xiaopeng, the former head of the Chinese state-owned banking giant Everbright Group, came under investigation for “severe violations” of the law.
China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, though Amnesty International and other rights groups believe thousands of people are executed in the country every year.
