China jails ex-top banker for life over $13 million bribes

BEIJING: A Chinese court jailed a former top banker for life for earning up to $13.2 million in bribes on Thursday, the second high-level graft conviction to hit the country's financial sector this week.

Hu Huaibang, a former party secretary and chairman of the China Development Bank, pleaded guilty in July to using his position to receive money and goods worth a total of 85.5 million yuan ($13.2 million) between 2009 and 2019.

A court in northern China's Chengde city on Thursday sentenced Hu to life imprisonment, state broadcaster CCTV reported, for "using the convenience of his position" to obtain favours for others in exchange for bribes.

Hu was flanked by masked guards as the sentence was delivered in a televised conclusion to the trial -- sending a strong message to the public that graft would not go unpunished in Xi Jinping's China.

The sentencing comes days after Chinese authorities handed the death penalty to Lai Xiaomin, another former top banker.

Lai, the former chairman of one of China's largest state-controlled asset management firms, was sentenced to death on Tuesday for soliciting $260 million in bribes, embezzlement, and bigamy.

More than one million officials have been punished in President Xi's crackdown on corruption, though critics say the campaign has also served as a pretense for him to purge political rivals.

Hu had worked his way up China's financial sector, moving between regulatory positions and state-owned companies before landing the top job at the Bank of Communications.

In 2013 he became chairman of China Development Bank and held the position until September 2018.

But his connection to fallen Chinese oil tycoon Ye Jianming, chairman of CEFC China Energy, appeared to have landed him in trouble.

In Hu's roles at the Bank of Communications and the CDB, he allegedly helped CEFC secure billions in credit lines for its overseas deals.