In recent years, Liaoning Huludao Bank, which has frequently trended on social media, is once again in the spotlight for a major event – the demand for a salary of 170,000 yuan (RMB, hereinafter the same) from former party secretary Li Yulin. This incident has garnered attention once again. Li Yulin had previously colluded with the bank’s president to embezzle 2.6 billion yuan of the bank’s funds along with shareholders.
Recently, a civil ruling disclosed by the Judicial Document Network showed that due to Li Yulin’s “alleged criminal activities” during his tenure at the Huludao Bank, the bank brought a lawsuit to the court. However, the first instance court rejected the bank’s lawsuit.
The bank requested Li Yulin to return his performance-based salary totaling 171,600 yuan earned during the period of illegal activities and misconduct.
It is worth noting that a previous judgment document revealed that in August 2020, Li Yulin teamed up with Huludao Bank’s president Li Xiaodong, conspired with Duan Motao (a shareholder of the bank), and Zhou Long to divert 2.6 billion yuan of the bank’s funds under the pretense of resolving the bank’s non-performing assets for Duan Motao’s extravagant use.
Duan Motao is the controlling shareholder of Dalian Zhongying Holdings Group, which invested in Huludao Bank at the end of 2016 and obtained a seat on the board of directors. According to the Huludao Bank’s annual report, as of the end of 2020, the group was the bank’s largest shareholder, holding 18.4% of the shares.
In September 2020, Zhou Long and others agreed to illicitly convert over 1.8 billion yuan into foreign currency and transfer it to a Hong Kong company account controlled by Duan Motao.
From September to October 2020, Xiang and others organized and supervised by Xiang were responsible for counting and verifying funds, some were responsible for remittance, and in a virtual currency trading WeChat group, they purchased virtual currencies at prices higher than the market. Subsequently, the acquired virtual currency was sold overseas through a virtual currency acquisition merchant, and the proceeds were exchanged into dollars and remitted to Duan Motao’s Hong Kong company bank account.
Among them, more than 250 million yuan of the funds were transferred under two bank cards in the name of Chen. In August 2022, Chen was arrested and returned to the case.
Ultimately, the court found Chen guilty of money laundering and sentenced him to 2 years and 3 months in prison, along with a fine of 2 million yuan.
Huludao Bank, formerly known as Huludao City Commercial Bank, was established in September 2001, with its predecessor being City Credit Cooperative Center. In December 2009, it was approved by the former Banking Regulatory Commission and renamed as Huludao Bank.
Li Yulin, born in the 1970s, had previously worked at Bank of China, Qingdao Ruyi Commercial Factoring, and Dalian Bank before taking on the role of party secretary at Huludao Bank in early 2020, later elected as chairman.
Huludao Bank argued that due to Li Yulin’s suspected criminal activities during his tenure at the bank, in accordance with relevant regulatory provisions, Li Yulin should return his performance-based salary of 171,600 yuan earned during the period of illegal activities and misconduct.
Therefore, Huludao Bank brought the case to court. However, the court ruled to dismiss the bank’s lawsuit.
The first-instance civil ruling also indicates that if dissatisfied with the ruling, an appeal may be submitted to the court within ten days from the date of the ruling, along with the submission of copies to the opposing parties, for the appeal to be heard at the Huludao City Intermediate Court.
The annual reports of Huludao Bank for 2021, 2022, and 2023 have not been disclosed, and the personnel changes after Li Yulin’s departure have not been made public.
According to public information, at the end of 2022, Gong Ke took over as the party secretary of Huludao Bank, who was previously the deputy director of the Huludao Municipal Finance Bureau. However, in August of this year, Gong Ke publicly attended activities in the capacity of party secretary and chairman of the Huludao City Water Group.
The appointment of the president of Huludao Bank changed to Li Zheng in early 2022, and in the fourth quarter of 2023, it changed to Ni Hongyu, who had previously served as the branch manager of the China Bank Panjin Branch. In late September of this year, Ni Hongyu’s appointment was approved.
Besides personnel changes, in July 2021, Huludao Bank also had its long-term credit rating downgraded. Credit rating agency United Credit mentioned in its report that the bank faced issues such as unstable liabilities, a high concentration level in credit business, significantly decreased credit asset quality, inadequate loan provisions, already incurred losses, urgent need for capital replenishment, defaults in investment assets, and lack of provisions made.