China executes former official of Huarong offshore finance unit for graft

China executed on Tuesday a former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings, Bai Tianhui, for taking bribes totalling 1.1 billion yuan ($156 million), state broadcaster CCTV said.

The company is a key offshore financing unit of troubled asset manager China Huarong Asset Management, known since 2024 as China CITIC Financial Asset Management.

One of China's biggest bad debt managers, Huarong was set up to handle bad loans from state banks.

The amount of bribes taken by Bai was "particularly huge" and "the social impact was particularly pernicious, causing particularly serious losses to the interests of the state and the people", CCTV said.

Bai's family was not reachable for comment.

CCTV said Bai exploited his senior positions at Huarong International Financial Holdings Ltd (Hong Kong) and China Huarong International Holdings Ltd between 2014 and 2018 to illegally accept money and assets.

Bai, sentenced to death in May 2024 by a court in China's northern city of Tianjin, lost his appeal to a higher court in February, which was then approved by the country's top court.

The execution was the latest in China's anti-graft campaign that has been widened to the sprawling financial industry.

In 2021, China executed Lai Xiaomin, a former chairman of China Huarong, in one of its highest-profile graft cases after he was found guilty of receiving or seeking bribes totalling 1.79 billion yuan.

Huarong was renamed after its takeover by Citic Group in a government-orchestrated bailout in 2021.