Former executive of Bank of China detained on bribery charges

The former Bank of China Chairman was apprehended on suspicion of accepting bribes and granting illegal loans.

Liu Liange, who was in charge of the government-owned bank from 2019 to 2023, stepped down from his job in March this year.

Several weeks later, officials revealed that Mr. Liu was being accused of corruption.

The 62-year-old is one of the oldest bankers to be caught in President Xi Jinping’s investigation into corruption in China’s financial sector, valued at $60 trillion.

The effort to get rid of corruption in the country’s financial industry seems to be increasing, with officials in April saying that the crackdown was not finished yet.

Many important financial executives from government-owned banks have already been punished with fines, imprisonment, or are being investigated. For instance, the former chairman of China Life Insurance, Wang Bin, has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of getting released early, because he was involved in bribery.

Mr Liu was recently arrested after being kicked out of China’s ruling Communist Party. The party expelled him because he was accused of doing something wrong by the country’s top anti-graft watchdog, China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The regulator said that Mr Liu did many bad things that caused big money problems.

Some of the things he’s accused of are giving out loans illegally, bringing in banned books, and accepting bribes and special treats like invitations to exclusive clubs and ski resorts, all using his position at the bank.

Mr Liu was an important person in China’s banking and financial sector. He had important jobs in China’s central bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. He got a better job and became the chairman of the Bank of China in 2019.