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.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
Separatists in Alberta are preparing to submit a petition tomorrow that they said has enough signatures to force a referendum on independence for the oil-rich Canadian province. Polls indicate the pro-independence camp remains a minority among Alberta’s 5 million people, but has hit a historic high of roughly 30 percent. Alberta separatists are also closer than ever to forcing a referendum, riding momentum fueled by intensifying grievances over Ottawa’s control of the provincial oil industry. They have also undeniably gotten a boost from the return to power of US President Donald Trump. After launching a petition in January, Stay Free Alberta, the group
RSS