China has executed a former senior executive of a state-owned financial institution for receiving bribes worth over 230 billion won, reaffirming President Xi Jinping's "zero tolerance" anti-corruption campaign that has now extended into the financial sector.
The Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin carried out the death sentence against Bai Tianhui, former general manager of Huarong International Holdings, on Friday after receiving approval from the Supreme People's Court, according to AP and China Central Television (CCTV).
Bai was charged with accepting bribes totaling 1.108 billion yuan (approximately 230 billion won, or $150 million) between 2014 and 2018 in exchange for helping companies with acquisitions and financing. In May last year, the court sentenced him to death along with permanent revocation of political rights and confiscation of all assets. The appellate court upheld the original verdict in February this year, rejecting his appeal.
"The facts of the crime are clear and the evidence is sufficient. The amount involved is especially enormous, and the social impact is extremely harmful, causing significant damage to the interests of the state and the people," the Supreme People's Court stated in explaining the ruling.
Huarong International Holdings, where Bai was caught, is a key overseas financial platform of Huarong Asset Management (now China Citic Financial Asset Management), one of China's four major distressed asset management companies. The Chinese government has been conducting intensive investigations into financial sector corruption in recent years, viewing it as a major risk factor.
The execution is widely seen as an extension of China's severe anti-corruption crackdown on high-ranking financial officials. Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of Huarong, was executed in 2021 for accepting bribes worth 1.79 billion yuan (approximately 300 billion won). In December last year, Li Jianping, former party secretary of Hohhot Economic and Technological Development Zone in Inner Mongolia, was executed for corruption crimes involving more than 3 billion yuan (approximately 620 billion won).
