Post by : Rameen Ariff

China on Tuesday executed Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), after he was convicted of taking massive bribes in one of the country’s most high-profile corruption cases.

State broadcaster CCTV reported that Bai accepted more than $156 million in bribes between 2014 and 2018, offering favourable support for project acquisitions and financing deals during his tenure at CHIH. The company operates under China Huarong Asset Management, one of China’s biggest state-run firms dealing with bad debts.

A Rare Execution Without Suspension

In China, death sentences linked to corruption are often issued with a two-year reprieve, after which they are usually reduced to life imprisonment. However, Bai’s punishment—first announced by a Tianjin court in May 2024—came without any suspension, making it a rare and severe ruling.

Bai appealed the decision, but the conviction was upheld in February. The Supreme People’s Court reviewed the case and confirmed the ruling, calling Bai’s offences “extremely serious” and noting that the bribes he accepted caused major losses to the state and the public.

According to CCTV, Bai met his close family members before being put to death in Tianjin on Tuesday morning. Authorities did not disclose the method of execution.

Part of Xi Jinping’s Expanding Anti-Corruption Campaign

The execution marks another significant moment in President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign targeting China’s political and financial sectors.

China Huarong has already seen several top executives fall under the crackdown. Its former chairman, Lai Xiaomin, was executed in January 2021 after being convicted of taking $253 million in bribes. Other senior figures have also been caught, investigated, or sentenced in recent years.

The campaign continues to widen across the financial industry:

• In September, Yi Huiman, the former head of China’s top securities regulator, came under investigation for corruption.

• In March, Li Xiaopeng, former Everbright Group chairman, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for taking 60 million yuan in bribes.

• In November 2024, Liu Liange, former chairman of the Bank of China, received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve for accepting 121 million yuan in bribes.

Supporters of the anti-corruption drive say it strengthens transparency and clean governance. Critics, however, argue that the campaign also gives the leadership greater control over political rivals.

China’s Execution Data Remains Secret

China does not publicly release statistics on death penalty cases, which are treated as state secrets. International rights groups, including Amnesty International, estimate that thousands of executions take place annually, making China one of the world’s most frequent users of capital punishment.

With Bai Tianhui’s execution, China has sent a powerful message that large-scale corruption, especially within state-run financial institutions, will continue to face the harshest punishment under Xi Jinping’s tightening grip on the sector.

#Global News