China executes ex-chief of financial assets company for taking $156 in bribes

China 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, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), a top state-controlled asset management firm, was executed on Tuesday morning after being found guilty of corruption.

As per the conviction charges, he was found guilty of accepting more than $156 million in bribes. He played a key role in the acquisition and financing of projects between 2014 and 2018, during which he offered favourable treatment. The 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, one of the country's largest asset management funds, and a subsidiary of China Huarong Asset Management, which focuses on bad-debt management.

In May 2024, a court in the northern city of Tianjin sentenced Bai Tianhui to death. Death sentences for corruption in China are often issued with a two-year reprieve and then commuted to life in prison. However, in his case, it was not suspended 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 his execution.

The 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, Yi Huiman, the former chief of China's top securities regulator, was placed under investigation for 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 sentenced to 15 years in prison 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.