Former investment company GM sentenced to death

Bai Tianhui, former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, has been sentenced to death for accepting bribes of more than 1.1 billion yuan ($152 million), a court in Tianjin said on Tuesday.

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

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

From 2014 to 2018, Bai was found to have taken advantage of his various posts in the investment company, including capital operations director, assistant general manager and general manager, to seek profits for various entities in matters such as project acquisition and corporate financing, taking 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 circumstance of his offense was extremely severe, which has brought great negative effects to society and caused extremely large losses to the country and the people," it said.

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

In China, a death sentence handed down by lower courts must be submitted for review to the Supreme People's Court, the country's top court. The sentence can be carried out only after the top court approves it.

Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of China Huarong Asset Management, 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 for using various posts to provide benefits to others and then accepting gifts and money worth over 1.78 billion yuan in return.

Lai was also discovered to have made use of his positions to embezzle and extort more than 25.1 million yuan in public funds. He had also been living in a bigamous relationship for an extended period.