A former chairman of one of China’s largest state-controlled asset management firms was on Tuesday sentenced to death for soliciting US$260 million in bribes, corruption and also bigamy.
Lai Xiaomin (賴小民), a former Chinese Communist Party member, in January last year gave a detailed confession on China Central Television (CCTV), which showed footage of safes and cabinets stuffed with cash in a Beijing apartment allegedly belonging to him.
Lai had abused his position in attempting to obtain the vast sum, the Second Intermediate Court of Tianjin said, describing the bribes as “extremely large” and labeling the circumstances “particularly serious.”
Photo: AFP / Second Intermediate People’s Court of Tianjin
He had shown “extreme malicious intent,” the court ruling added.
The former chairman of the Hong Kong-listed China Huarong Asset Management Co — a distressed debt group — was also found guilty of bigamy after living with a woman “as man and wife for long periods” outside of his marriage, and fathering illegitimate children.
Huarong is one of four companies set up in 1999 to help clean up bad debt piles choking China’s banking system, and the company later expanded into investment, loan and property businesses.
Lai’s downfall began in April 2018 as investigators removed him from his job and stripped him of his party position.
He was also alleged to have used his position to embezzle more than 25 million yuan (US$3.87 million at the current exchange rate) in public funds from 2009 to 2018.
During his TV confession, Lai said he “did not spend a single penny, and just kept it there... I did not dare to spend it.”
He had referred to the apartment where he kept the money as the “supermarket,” given his regular visits there to deposit cash.
CCTV showed luxury vehicles and gold bars reportedly accepted as bribes by Lai, who worked in the central bank and the China Banking Regulatory Commission prior to his leadership roles in Huarong.
The channel often broadcasts interviews with suspects admitting to crimes before they have appeared in court — a practice that has long been condemned by lawyers and rights organizations as forcing confessions under duress.
The court said Lai would have all personal assets confiscated and be stripped of his political rights.
Photographs published by the court showed Lai standing up and facing the judge to be sentenced, flanked by two police officers wearing masks.
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