What’s new: Wu Xuemin, a former chairman of Hong Kong-traded Huishang Bank Corp. Ltd., was expelled from the Communist Party for alleged corruption and faces criminal charges, China’s top graft buster said Friday in a statement.
Wu, 54, served as Huishang Bank’s party chief and chairman between November 2017 and April 2021 before he was appointed to head the Anhui Credit Guarantee Group Co. Ltd. He was placed under party investigation in March.
In a strongly worded statement, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) accused Wu of betraying the party’s mission and becoming extremely greedy. Wu “recklessly abused his power in loan issuance and personnel management in exchange for personal gains and resulted in a huge loss in state assets,” the statement said. Investigators turned Wu’s case over to the judicial system for prosecution according to law, it said.
Background: During Wu’s tenure, Huishang Bank nursed heavy losses from its interbank transactions with Baoshang Bank Co. Ltd., the first Chinese commercial bank to go bust in decades. It is also one of the recipients of Baoshang’s remaining assets.
Huishang Bank had about 6 billion yuan ($854 million) of losses on interbank deposits at Baoshang, Caixin learned in 2019 when Baoshang was seized by regulators.
Before the downfall of Wu, two of his predecessors, Dai Hedi and Li Hongming, were also investigated. In May, Dai was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for corruption.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bob.simison@caixin.com)
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