Former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management Co., Lai Xiaomin, has been sentenced to death for taking bribes, corruption and bigamy. – By Gerald Gekara.
The sentence was handed down by the Second Municipal Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin.
Court documents say Lai was found guilty of receiving a total of 1.79 billion yuan (28.4 Billion) in bribes during his tenure between 2008 and 2018, All his personal assets will be confiscated.
Lai was described as a corporate ‘guy’ who lived large. He owned large properties, luxury watches, cars, gold and art collections.
In 2018, Lai confessed in state TV documentary that he preferred cash payments and said he would drive loads of bills to a Beijing apartment, where more than 200 million yuan was uncovered by police later.
This led to his subsequent arrest.
Since President Xi Jingping launched a campaign against corruption, more than 1 million government officials have been punished.
FUNFACT : China Huarong Asset Management Co., Ltd. known as just China Huarong, is a majority state-owned financial asset management company in China, with a focus on distressed debt management. It was one of the four asset management companies that the Government of China established in 1999 in response to the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
