Former China Huarong International Holdings Limited general manager sentenced to death for taking bribes

Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, was sentenced to death for accepting bribes of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($151.8 million), a court in Tianjin said on Tuesday.

Bai was also deprived of political rights for life, with the confiscation of all his personal assets, according to the ruling announced by the Tianjin No 2 Intermediate People's Court.

In addition, the illicit gains that Bai made and the interests earned from them have been ordered to be turned over to the national treasury by the court.

From 2014 to 2018, Bai was found to have taken advantage of his various work posts in the company, including the capital operations director, general manager assistant and general manager, to seek profits for relevant departments in matters such as project acquisition and corporate financing, and then took bribes worth over 1.1 billion yuan in return, the court said.

"Bai's behavior has constituted the crime of bribery in line with the Criminal Law. He should be given the death penalty in line with the law, as the amount of his bribes was extremely huge and the circumstances of his offense were extremely severe, which has had a greatly negative effect on society and caused extremely large losses to the country and the people," it said.

"Although he exposed the major criminal activities of others and provided important clues that helped solve other cases, it is not sufficient to leniently punish him due to the harm of his offense," it added.

In China, a death sentence made by lower courts must be submitted to the Supreme People's Court, the country's top court, for review. Capital punishment can be carried out only when the top court approves it.

Before Bai, Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd, was executed for corruption in January 2021 after his death sentence was approved by the top court.

Lai was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and bigamy and given the death penalty after being identified as having used various posts to provide benefits to others and then accepting gifts and money worth over 1.78 billion yuan.

Lai was also discovered to have made use of his positions to embezzle and extort public funds worth more than 25.13 million yuan. Additionally, he had been living with someone besides his legal spouse as his husband and wife for an extended period.