Lai Xiaomin, Former Communist Party Secretary of China Huarong, Sentenced to Death for Corruption and Bigamy on January 5, 2021
Lai Xiaomin, a prominent former Chinese financial magnate, was sentenced to death on Jan. 5 by a Tianjin court for “corruption and bigamy. Lai Xiaomin did not kill anyone, but was sentenced to death for a huge amount of corruption, a rarity in China in recent years. Was it Xi Jinping who gave this death sentence? Why?
On January 5, 2021, the Tianjin Second Intermediate Court publicly sentenced Lai Xiaomin, the former Communist Party Secretary and Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Huarong Asset Management Co. The charges were bribery, embezzlement and bigamy.
AFP said the sentence was handed down against the backdrop of the Communist regime’s tightening control over the financial sector. in early November 2020, Beijing banned what would have been the largest IPO in history at the last minute.
Lai was accused of using his position as director of the General Office of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, secretary of the party committee and chairman of the board of Huarong Asset Management Co. and secretary of the party committee of Huarong Xiangjiang Bank Co. to assist relevant units and individuals in obtaining financing, contracting projects, cooperative operations, job transfers and job promotion adjustments through the official conduct of other state employees during the period 2008-2018 . Through specific relations, he received and solicited property from units and individuals, amounting to RMB 1.788 billion (of which RMB 104 million was not obtained).
Lai Xiaomin is also accused of embezzling and siphoning public funds from units with specific relations totaling more than RMB 25.13 million from late 2009 to January 2018.
In addition, Lai Xiaomin was also counted as guilty of living together with another person as husband and wife for a long period of time and having children from it before the divorce was finalized.
The court particularly emphasized that most of Lai Xiaomin’s crimes occurred after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and were topical. Therefore, the crimes are extremely serious and should be severely punished.
In January 2020, Lai Xiaomin’s confession was broadcast by CCTV. At that time, a Beijing apartment that supposedly belonged to him was shown. Inside were safes and cabinets filled with cash. Lai Xiaomin confessed, “I didn’t dare to spend” the money. The video images also showed luxury cars and gold bars that the defendant allegedly accepted as bribes.
Huarong Asset Management Co. is one of China’s largest managers of bad debts, or loans that have a high probability of not being repaid. It was one of four companies set up by the Communist government in 1999 to clean up bad loans in the banking sector. The group later diversified its business into investments, loans and real estate.
Xi Jinping launched a massive anti-corruption campaign after he came to power as the Communist Party leader in 2012. More than 1.5 million Communist Party cadres have been disciplined. But this popular action is also suspected of serving to remove opposition from the party.
Ren Zhiqiang and Jack Ma
Last year, former Chinese real estate tycoon Ren Zhiqiang paid the price when he was sentenced to 18 years in prison. A critical figure in China’s business community, Ren has published sharp articles criticizing the authorities for their unfavorable response to the Wuhan Communist Party virus epidemic at the end of 2019.
In November, Jack Ma, China’s most prominent businessman and billionaire, also faced reprisals from authorities. The Hong Kong IPO of Ant Group, the online payments giant he founded, was banned by authorities at the last minute. The deal was expected to raise more than $34 billion, making it the largest IPO in history.
Ma offended the Chinese Communist regime by publicly criticizing financial regulators for curbing innovation. Since that gaffe, the former English teacher who led Alibaba Group to become a pioneer in online trading in China, has not been seen in public.
Only one high-ranking official has been sentenced to death in China since Xi Jinping came to power. That was for one of his murders in 2016. Others have been given death sentences that were suspended (and never actually carried out).
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