After a five-year hiatus, the first-instance verdict of the Bai Tianhui case has been announced. On May 28th, the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court publicly sentenced Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of China Huarong International Holdings Ltd. (“Huarong International”), to death for accepting over 1.1 billion yuan in bribes. This marks another high-ranking executive of Huarong Group to be sentenced to death following the former chairman of Huarong Asset Management Co., Lai Xiaomin.
According to the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court, from 2014 to 2018, Bai Tianhui utilized his positions as the head of business expansion division, general manager, and managing director of investment banking department at Huarong (Hong Kong) International Holdings Ltd., as well as director of capital operations, assistant to the general manager, director, deputy general manager, and general manager of China Huarong International Holdings Ltd. to facilitate Project acquisitions and corporate financing matters for related entities, illegally receiving a total of over 1.108 billion yuan.
In January 2019, Bai Tianhui was arrested by Tianjin procuratorate. Also arrested were Wang Pinghua, former chairman of Huarong Real Estate Co., Guo Jintong, former deputy general manager of Huarong International, and Zhao Zichun, former deputy general manager of Huarong Guiyang Real Estate Co.
It was previously reported by Caixin that Wang Pinghua, Bai Tianhui, and Guo Jintong were all investigated in early June 2018, with their actions linked to Huarong’s dealings in Hong Kong’s capital markets.
Huarong International was engaged in hype trading in Hong Kong’s penny stocks (trading below 0.1 Hong Kong dollars), with several shell companies having connections to the “Tomorrow Group.” Bai Tianhui was a key player for Huarong International in these types of capital operations in Hong Kong.
The Bai Tianhui case is closely related to the Lai Xiaomin case. In January 2021, the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court publicly sentenced Lai Xiaomin to death for bribery, embezzlement, and bigamy. Lai Xiaomin was sentenced to death for bribery (1.788 billion yuan), 11 years for embezzlement, and 1 year for bigamy, with the death penalty executed and all personal assets confiscated.
On January 29, 2021, the Tianjin Second Intermediate People’s Court carried out the death penalty against Lai Xiaomin.
In the documentary “National Supervision,” Bai Tianhui appeared, stating, “Many projects were directly assigned by Lai Xiaomin, they were all his friends’. Sometimes, in order to fulfill the tasks assigned by superiors, many factors and points that were considered from a market perspective were either ignored or beautified.”