China hands rare death sentence to former senior banker for taking US$151 million in bribes
- Former manager Bai Tianhui is the second China Huarong official to receive the ultimate penalty, after his former boss was executed in 2021
- No mention was made of Bai’s intention to appeal the court’s ruling, which is unusually severe in Chinese corruption cases
A court in eastern China delivered a rare death sentence on Tuesday, after finding that a former senior banker accepted bribes worth more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$151 million) in his role with one of the country’s top four state asset managers.
Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), took advantage of his position to aid others in the acquisitions and financing of projects in exchange for the huge sums, the court found.
A report on the Secondary Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin’s ruling by state broadcaster CCTV, did not say how Bai pleaded nor if he would be appealing the sentence.
CHIH is an offshore unit of China Huarong Asset Management (CHAM). It was taken over by the Citic Group and renamed China Citic Financial Asset Management in January.