China sentences former asset manager to death for 'extremely large' bribes

Huarong is a major target of Chinese President Xi Jinping's years-long anti-corruption fight, with its former president Lai Xiaomin executed in January 2021 for receiving bribes worth $260 million .

Supporters say the anti-corruption campaign promotes clean governance, but critics say it also gives Xi the power to purge his political rivals.

The court sentenced Bai to “death, deprivation of his political rights for life and confiscation of all his personal property”, CCTV reported.

“The value of Bai Tianhui's corruption crime was extremely large, the circumstances of the crime were extremely serious, the social impact was extremely bad, and it caused extremely serious damage to the interests of the country and the people,” the court ruled. court, according to the broadcaster.

China's top leaders told a Politburo meeting on financial risks on Monday that “those who fail to fulfill their duties will be held accountable and will be severely punished,” the official Xinhua news agency said.

In recent months, several figures in the Chinese financial and banking sectors have been targeted by anti-corruption authorities.

In April, Liu Liange, president of the Bank of China from 2019 to 2023, admitted to “taking bribes and illegally granting loans.”

The same month, the former head of Chinese state-owned banking giant Everbright Group, Li Xiaopeng, was investigated for “serious violations” of the law.

China classifies death penalty statistics as a state secret, even though Amnesty and other rights groups estimate that thousands of people are executed in the country each year.

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