'Rare sentence': China court hands death sentence to banker for taking $151 million in bribes

A China court on Tuesday (May 28) delivered a rare death sentence to Bai Tianhui, a former senior banker.

Tianhui, as per the South China Morning Post (SCMP), was found guilty of accepting bribes worth over 1.1 billion yuan (US$151 million).

Bai, who was the general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), has been sentenced by the Secondary Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin. The court found that Bai used his position to facilitate acquisitions and financing projects in exchange for bribes.

The court also permanently stripped Bai of his political rights and ordered the confiscation of all his personal property.

Despite Bai providing information that led to other arrests and convictions, the court deemed the scale of his bribery and the social impact of his crimes to be too severe for a lighter sentence.

While China's State broadcaster CCTV reported the ruling, it did not disclose how Bai pleaded or whether he plans to appeal.

Legal experts, however, suggest Bai may appeal his sentence, citing precedent where similar offences received lesser sentences, such as the case of Zhang Zhongsheng. His death sentence for accepting 1.17 billion yuan in bribes was commuted to life imprisonment after an appeal.

China and death sentences

Death sentences in corruption cases are uncommon in China, especially ones that are not suspended. Bai is the second official from China's Huarong to receive such a sentence.

In January 2021, Lai Xiaomin, the former chairperson of China Huarong Asset Management (CHAM) and Bai's former boss was executed after being found guilty of taking 1.79 billion yuan (US$247 million) in bribes, embezzling public assets, and bigamy.

Four other senior executives from Huarong, including Wang Pinghua and Qin Ling, are awaiting trial on corruption charges.

This ruling comes amid a broader crackdown on corruption in China’s finance sector, led by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). The crackdown is in line with President Xi Jinping's goal of transforming China into a financial superpower and mitigating financial risks.

Since January, over 30 state regulators, bankers, and senior financial executives have been detained as part of these efforts.

Xi has emphasised the need for stringent measures to address the "prominent problems" of "repeated financial disorders and corruption, and weak financial supervision and governance capacity".

(With inputs from agencies)