China Huarong, now known as China CITIC Financial Asset Management (after changing its name in 2024), is a key state-controlled financial entity specializing in high-risk asset management. On Tuesday, a Supreme Court judge found that “the amount of bribes received by Bai Tianhui was extremely high, the circumstances of the crime were particularly serious, and the social consequences were particularly pernicious,” CCTV reports. The judge added that the evidence against Bai was “conclusive and sufficient” so his sentence was “appropriate.”
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The executive's execution is part of China's anti-corruption campaign
Bai Tianhui allegedly used his managerial position at Huarong International Financial Holdings Ltd (Hong Kong) and China Huarong International Holdings Ltd between 2014 and 2018 to illegally receive money and assets. He was sentenced to death in May 2024 by a court in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. He filed an appeal but lost it in February this year. The Supreme People's Court approved the death sentence.
No information was given on how Bai Tianhui was executed, but it is known that he was able to meet his loved ones earlier.
Bai's execution is one of the examples of how China is implementing its latest version of the fight against corruption, which – as the country's leader Xi Jinping claims – is the greatest threat to the Chinese Communist Party and the entire country.
Four years ago, the Middle Kingdom executed Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China Huarong, as part of one of the most high-profile corruption cases. Lai, who was executed just a month after the verdict was announced, was found guilty of accepting nearly 1.8 billion yuan in bribes, embezzling more than 25 million yuan of public assets and bigamy.
Recently, the former head of the Chinese insurance giant New China Life Insurance, Li Quan, was sentenced to death. He was found guilty of embezzlement and corruption for a total amount of 213 million yuan (approximately PLN 100 million). In his case, however, there is a chance that he will avoid execution because his death sentence was suspended for two years. After this time, it may be commuted to a life sentence.
According to data from the South China Morning Post, during the first nine months of this year, the highest body supervising the anti-corruption campaign in China, the Central Disciplinary Inspection Commission, detained 54 government officials, bankers and high-ranking managers of financial institutions suspected of corruption.
