CHIH is the offshore unit of China Huarong Asset Management Co. (CHAM), which was acquired by CITIC Group in January and renamed China Citic Financial Asset Management Co.
Lai, who was executed one month after his verdict, was convicted of accepting bribes worth 1.79 billion yuan (US$247 million), embezzling more than 25.13 million yuan (US$3.46 million), and committing bigamy.
Lai is the first official to receive capital punishment for corruption since Xu Maiyong, the former mayor of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and Jiang Renjie, the former mayor of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, were sentenced to death in 2011.
Tuesday’s court ruling also permanently stripped Bai of his political rights and ordered all of his personal property to be confiscated, CCTV reported.
The court found that Baek volunteered information that led to other arrests and convictions, but that the bribes he received were “particularly large” and the impact of his crimes on society was “particularly harmful, causing significant damage to the interests of the state and its people.”
“All of this [factors] Taking into consideration, [the court] The verdict was given [Bai] “He does not deserve a lesser punishment. Hence, the death sentence,” the ruling said.
Four other senior Huarong executives, including Wang Pinghua, former chairman of Huarong Real Estate, and Qin Ling, former chairman of Huarong Investment, are also awaiting trial.
Guo Jintong, a former vice general manager of Huarong International Holdings, and Zhao Zichun, who held the same position at Huarong Guiyang Real Estate, are also due to appear in court on corruption charges.
A Beijing-based criminal lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he expected Bai to appeal, citing previous cases where defendants for similar offences had received lighter sentences.
Zhang Zhongsheng, the former deputy mayor of Lvliang city in northern China’s Shanxi Province, was sentenced to death in March 2018 for accepting bribes worth 1.17 billion yuan (US$161 million), later given a two-year suspension of execution and had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment on appeal in October 2021.
China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), launched a sweeping crackdown on the financial sector this year in response to President Xi’s calls to make China a “financial powerhouse” and curb risks.
Speaking at the third plenary session of the Central Commission for Financial Development in January, Xi warned of “prominent problems” including “repeated financial turmoil and corruption, and weak financial supervision and governance capabilities.”
