In China, a former banker was executed for “corruption …

The Chinese banker Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of the so-called “bad bank” of the Chinese state Huarong, was executed on Friday, three weeks after being sentenced to death for the costs of corruption and bigamy. Xiaomin is the protagonist, according to the Chinese press, of the “biggest financial corruption case” in the country’s history in a bribe scheme when he held a high position in the China Banking Regulatory Commission ( CBRC).

The court ruling, which sentenced him to death on Jan.5, ruled that Lai had explicitly requested bribes in exchange for promotions or project awards, which “endangered safety and security. stability of national finances and had an extremely negative social impact “.

The former banker – who was kicked out of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2018 – accepted bribes for over 1788 million yuan ($ 277 million, € 225 million) between 2008 and 2018, during which time he was also a top executive of the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC).

Death sentences are less and less frequent in this type of corruption cases in China and are usually accompanied by the so-called “two-year extension”, which means that the convict is not executed unless he is executed. ‘He does not repeat his crimes within two years. after conviction and is usually reduced to life imprisonment.

However, in the case of Lai played against him his status as a senior official in various public bodies and “the extreme gravity”, according to the court, of his crimes. Lai, detained since 2018, was found guilty of participating in the embezzlement of additional funds of 25 million yuan (3.9 million US dollars, 3.2 million euros) from the accounts of the public management company of financial assets that he chaired.

His possessions included a large number of real estate collections, luxury watches, automobiles, gold and art. For the moment, and despite the fact that the justice has ordered the confiscation of all his assets, 104 million yuan (16.1 million dollars, 13.1 million euros) obtained illegally by Lai remain unrecovered.

Huarong is one of the four “bad banks” from this country. It was founded in 1999, after the Asian financial crisis, with the aim of purging the failures of the Chinese banking system. The entity, after Lai’s arrival, began investing in high-risk assets, according to a documentary that aired early last year on public television CCTV.

In this program, Lai confessed that he preferred cash payments and that he would go with a trunk full of cash to an apartment he called “the supermarket,” in which the authorities found more than $ 200 million. yuan (30.9 million yuan). Dollars, 25.2 million euros) in cash.

Televised confessions are increasingly common in China in high-profile cases, and the anti-corruption campaign This is one of the President’s flagship programs, Xi Jinping.