Death Sentence for Former Top Financial Official Whose Corruption Shocked Nation

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By Guo Yingzhe / Jan 06, 2021 05:02 PM / Politics & Law

A Chinese court has sentenced a former top financial official to death after he was found guilty of bribery, bigamy, and embezzlement

Lai Xiaomin, a former chairman of one of China’s four largest state-owned bad-debt managers, was sentenced to death on Tuesday by a court in North China’s Tianjin municipality, according to a court statement (link in Chinese).

Lai was found guilty of receiving or attempting to receive a record 1.79 billion yuan ($276.8 million) of bribes over a 10-year period from 2008 to 2018. He was also convicted of bigamy and colluding with others to embezzle 25.1 million yuan of public funds.

Lai’s case made headline not only due to the size of the crime but also due to some of the astonishing details that emerged during the investigation, such as the metric tons of cash stashed at his home, the 300 million yuan bank account under his mother’s name, and his over 100 mistresses.

As well as passing the death penalty, the court deprived the former China Huarong Asset Management Co. Ltd. chairman of his of political rights for life and confiscated of all of his personal property.