China executes former Huarong official for $156 million bribe

China has executed a former senior official of China Huarong International Holdings Ltd. as part of President Xi Jinping’s ongoing crackdown on financial crime.

Bai Tianhui, who previously served as general manager at the firm, was executed on December 9 in Tianjin following approval from the Supreme People’s Court, Bloomberg reported, citing local television.

In a similar high-profile case, Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of the parent company, was executed in 2021.

Bai was sentenced to death in May of last year after being convicted of bribery, a ruling that was later upheld by a second court in February. According to the sentencing report, he accepted bribes totalling 1.1 billion yuan (approximately $156 million).

Huarong, now known as China Citic Financial Asset Management Co., is one of China’s largest managers of bad debt. The firm was bailed out by Citic Group in 2021 after incurring massive losses.

In recent years, Beijing has intensified oversight of the financial sector to reduce risks and stabilise the struggling economy. This effort has included a series of death sentences for high-profile bankers, such as Zhang Hongli, former vice president of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., and Liu Liange, former chairman of Bank of China Ltd.

While most officials and executives sentenced to death on corruption charges have received reprieves in recent years, those responsible for causing enormous financial losses have faced no leniency.

President Xi’s decade-long anti-graft campaign has targeted over 1.5 million government officials, increasingly focusing on the finance industry and ensnaring hundreds of executives and officials in recent years.

By Tamilla Hasanova