jfid – Xu Guojun, former branch manager of the Bank of China in Southern China from 1993 to 2001, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chinese court for one of the country’s largest corruption cases.
Xu was found guilty of embezzling 2.3 billion yuan (325 million US dollars; 255 million pounds sterling).
He is among many high-ranking financial officials targeted in President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, ongoing for over two years.
This campaign aims to cleanse the financial industry worth 60 trillion US dollars (48 trillion pounds sterling) from practices detrimental to the country and its people.
Xu isn’t alone in facing severe punishment for actions. In 2021, Lai Xiaomin, former chairman of Huarong – one of the largest state-controlled asset management companies – was executed after being found guilty of corruption and having two wives.
In the same year, former chairman of China Development Bank, Hu Huaibang, received a life sentence in a bribery case involving 85.5 million yuan.
The list of prominent names caught in the anti-corruption net also includes Li Xiaopeng, former chairman of China Everbright Group, Liu Liange, former chairman of Bank of China, the fourth largest bank in China, and Bao Fan, a star investment banker who disappeared in February and is suspected to be involved in an investigation.
