What’s new: Fu Xiaodong, former president of the Henan branch of China Development Bank, was expelled from the Communists Party, removed from public positions and turned over to prosecutors on corruption charges, the country’s anti-graft watchdog said Monday.
The banker was found to have illegally accepted banquets, expensive gifts and shopping cards from his supervision targets, clients and subordinates, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said in a statement. In exchange, he provided preference in hiring and promotions, help in bond underwriting and obtaining loans for companies, and illegal intermediaries in clients’ project bidding. He also often organized and participated in mahjong games through which he accepted winning bets as bribes.
Fu, 60, was the president of the Henan branch of China Development Bank (CDB) from 2016 to December 2020. Since then, he acted as a senior expert at the policy bank. He was put under investigation in June.
The background: One of the clues leading to the investigation of Fu was loans provided by China Development Bank to Luoyang Jinxin Group Co. Ltd., a private multi-industrial group in jewelry, finance, real estate and mining.
Jinxin Group paid Fu bribes at least twice — 5 million yuan ($700,000) of cash each time — in exchange for loans from China Development Bank, according to people at Jinxin Group. Most of the loans went bad, the people said.
Jinxin Group was involved in multiple lawsuits, and its Chairman Nian Yong’an was listed by courts as a person of dishonesty subject to enforcement, according to enterprise registration platform Qichacha.
Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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