China executes second ex-Huarong executive for taking over $156 million bribe

Bai Tianhui (Photo: AFP)

China executed an ex-official of China Huarong International Holdings Ltd. as President Xi Jinping’s years-long crackdown on financial crime continues unabated.

Bai Tianhui, a former general manager at the firm, was executed Tuesday by a court in Tianjin city following the approval of the Supreme People’s Court, China Central Television reported. Lai Xiaomin, former chairman at the parent company, was put to death in 2021.

Bai was sentenced to death in May last year after a bribery conviction, a ruling that was later upheld by a second court in February. He had taken a “huge amount” of bribes totalling 1.1 billion yuan ($156 million), according to the sentencing report in May.

Huarong, now known as China Citic Financial Asset Management Co. and one of China’s biggest managers of bad debt, was bailed out in 2021 by Citic Group after racking up large losses.

Beijing has tightened its grip on the financial sector in recent years to tackle risks and stabilise the ailing economy. That effort has seen a series of death sentences being handed down to high-profile bankers, including Zhang Hongli, a former vice president at Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and Liu Liange, former Bank of China Ltd. Chairman.

While most Chinese officials and executives facing death sentences on corruption charges have been given reprieve in recent years, there has been no respite for those who caused massive losses.

Xi’s decade-long anti-graft campaign has taken down more than 1.5 million government officials. In recent year,s it has focused on the finance industry, which has ensnared hundreds of officials and executives.