A local court in Tianjin city has sentenced former China Huarong Asset Management Company Chairman Lai Xiaomin to death for taking bribes, corruption and violating bigamy laws. It is being said that he was a centurion of a unique type, someone alleged to have 100 mistresses. It was revealed since he had 100 homes, given to his 100 mistresses.
While ordering seizure of all his personal assets, the court has found that Xiaomin had taken bribes worth 1.79 billion yuan ($365 million) over a decade from 2008 to 2018.
Charging Lai Xiaomin of misusing his position as a senior banking regulator, the court said: “Lai Xiaomin was lawless and extremely greedy.” The social harm done by him was huge and he needed to be punished severely, the court said.
In a documentary shown on state TV, Lai Xiaomin confessed to his crimes, admitting that he preferred taking cash in lieu of favours done. He had been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party in 2018 and was detained around the same time.
Over a million government officials have been punished in Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive so far, according to the Chinese state media. Ant group chief and founder of Alibaba Group Holding Jack Ma is also being investigated after he made some unsavoury remarks against official financial regulators.
Incidentally, Jack Ma has not appeared in public for a long time and his fate is not known. At one time, he had planned to expand his business by launching a global investment mopping scheme worth $37 billion. However, this was put on hold by the Chinese government at the very last moment. Since the cancellation of that public issue, the shares of his company have lost significantly.
