BEIJING: China executed a former executive of a top state-controlled asset management firm for corruption on Tuesday, state media reported.
Bai Tianhui, the ex-general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), was found guilty of accepting more than $156 million while offering favourable treatment in the acquisition and financing of projects between 2014 and 2018, state broadcaster CCTV said.
CHIH is a subsidiary of China Huarong Asset Management, which focuses on bad-debt management as one of the country´s largest asset management funds.
Huarong has been a major target of President Xi Jinping´s years-long graft crackdown, with its former chairman Lai Xiaomin executed in January 2021 for receiving bribes worth $253 million.
Several other Huarong executives have also been snared in anti-corruption investigations.
Death sentences for corruption in China are often issued with a two-year reprieve and then commuted to life in prison.
But Bai´s sentence, first handed down in May 2024 by a court in the northern city of Tianjin, was not suspended.
He appealed against his conviction but the original verdict was upheld in February.
The Supreme People´s Court, China´s highest court, confirmed the decision after review, stating that Bai´s crimes were “extremely serious”, CCTV reported.
