The former chief executive of financial conglomerate China Huarong, one of the largest indebted groups in China, has been sentenced to death for corruption, local press reported on Tuesday.
China Huarong Asset Management is one of the largest managers of distressed debt in China, that is, debt with a high probability of non-payment.
It was one of four companies created in 1999 by the Chinese government to clean up the banking sector. Since then, the group has diversified its activities, especially in investment and credit, as well as in the real estate sector.
The main shareholder of China Huarong is the Ministry of Finance of China.
The courts found the group’s former chief executive Bai Tianhui guilty of accepting bribes worth about 1.1 billion yuan (about 140.6 million euros), state television CCTV reported.
Bai Tianhui was sentenced to death, the state channel reported, citing a court decision in Tianjin, an important port city near Beijing.
A death sentence for a senior business leader is unusual in China. However, these sentences are often commuted to a suspended death sentence, equivalent to life imprisonment.
Bai Tianhui’s sentence is identical to that of former investment fund director Lai Xiaomi, who was executed in 2021. The court accused Lai of accepting a bribe worth 215 million euros.
He was also found guilty of “polygamy”.
State television showed footage of a Beijing apartment believed to belong to Lai Xiaoming, with safes and cabinets full of wads of cash.
China Huarong has made headlines in recent years due to its €214 billion-equivalent debt and erratic management. In 2021, trading of the company’s shares was suspended for nine months on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
In recent months, several important figures in the banking and financial sector have been charged with corruption in China.
At a time when China’s economy is slowing, poor practices in the financial sector are at the heart of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership said on Tuesday that “financial risks” are a “matter of national security” and warned its officials that they “bear responsibility” if they do not “take responsibility” for “ensuring the country’s financial health situation “
Officials “at all levels” will be asked to “ensure the correct implementation of various tasks aimed at strengthening financial regulation in all areas,” the leadership of China’s unified party continued.
“The rules must be strictly enforced and violators must be held accountable. Those who fail to fulfill their responsibilities must be held accountable and will be punished,” the PCC warned, while some rating agencies downgraded their ratings to “negative.” The outlook for the country’s rating, given the “growing risks” to public finances.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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