What’s new: Zhang Huayu, former deputy Communist Party secretary and deputy president of China Everbright Bank, was expelled from the Communist Party and removed from public office for taking bribes, China’s top antigraft agency said Monday in a statement.
Zhang, 63, illegally accepted a large amount of money and gifts and abused his power to arrange for dozens of his family members and relatives to work at Everbright and subsidiaries and to help others in promotions, job transfers and obtaining loans, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said. He was placed under investigation in January.
Before joining China Everbright Bank, a subsidiary of state-owned financial conglomerate China Everbright Group Ltd., in 2001, Li worked at the People’s Bank of China’s branches in Shangqiu, Henan province, and the Bank of Communications’ branches in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and Xi’an.
He was Everbright Bank’s deputy president since 2007 and deputy party secretary since 2018. He retired as deputy president in August 2018. After retirement, he acted as senior executives at certain companies that have business relations with Everbright and received high salaries, which is a typical example of corruption, the CCDI said.
The background: Zhang was among a half-dozen executives of Everbright and affiliates who were under corruption investigation or expelled from the party since November. Zhang had close ties with some of those executives, people close to the matter told Caixin.
Xia Wei, a senior executive of China Everbright Bank, was put under investigation on suspicion of “serious violations of Communist Party discipline and law,” the CCDI said in November. The allegation is a common euphemism for graft.
Du Xiongfei, general manager of the debt financing and investment banking departments at Everbright Securities Co. Ltd., was also placed under graft investigation in November.
Established in 1983 by China’s central government, Everbright Group conducts businesses spanning banking, securities, trust and other financial and nonfinancial sectors through a myriad of subsidiaries.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
Get our weekly free Must-Read newsletter.
