What’s new: He Xingxiang, a former vice president of the China Development Bank (CDB), was sentenced to 20 years in prison for four crimes, a court in Beijing ruled on Friday.
He was found guilty of taking bribes, providing bank guarantees illegally, issuing loans illegally, and concealing his offshore bank deposits, according to an announcement by the court the same day.
The 60-year-old was also fined 5.1 million yuan ($718,462), while all of his illegal gains will be confiscated and turned over to the state treasury.
Before joining the CDB in 2020, China’s biggest policy bank by assets, He worked for Bank of China Ltd. (BOC) for more than three decades, holding a number of positions including leading the state-owned giant’s Hainan and Shandong provincial branches. He also served as a vice president of the Agricultural Development Bank of China, another policy lender, from 2014 to 2020. A corruption probe against him was announced in 2021.
Leveraging his power and influence at BOC and the policy banks, He did individuals and organizations favors, such as helping them obtain jobs or bank credit lines, in exchange for nearly 66.4 million yuan in bribes, the court said.
He illegally instructed BOC staff to issue loans, letters of credit and payment guarantees to at least one company, resulting in losses of nearly 1.5 billion yuan for the bank, according to the court.
The background: He is one of multiple high-ranking CDB officials who have been investigated for graft in recent years. Hu Huaibang, a former chairman who allegedly helped CEFC China Energy Co. Ltd. and HNA Group Co. Ltd. obtain billions of dollars in dubious credit, was sentenced to life in prison in 2021 for taking bribes.
In an article published last year, China’s top graft-buster slammed CDB’s “rampant” corruption caused by a lack of self-discipline at the leadership level and lax internal governance.
Read more In Depth: Former Policy Bank Chief Used Personnel Shifts, Strong-Arm Tactics to Funnel Loans
Contact reporter Zhang Yukun (yukunzhang@caixin.com) and editor Jonathan Breen (jonathanbreen@caixin.com)
Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
